First official customer deliveries of Tesla’s Cybertruck started rolling out in late 2023. Since then, the EV-maker’s CEO, Elon Musk, has repeatedly hailed the futuristic line of vehicles as the company’s “best product ever,” while envisioning the electric pickup truck could reach annual sales of 250,000. However, a look at the US auto giant’s new sales figures has industry insiders arguing that the Tesla Cybertruck may have snagged the infamous benchmark of the “biggest flop” in the US automotive industry, evoking comparisons with other failures.

Cybertruck branded ‘biggest flop’ of US auto industry

Contrary to Elon Musk‘s vision for the Cybertruck, the Tesla vehicle has struck up an unlikely competition of the worst kind with the almost 70-year-old Ford Motor car Edsel, which has been widely viewed as the “greatest automotive flop of all time,” according to a recent Bloomberg report.

Like Tesla, Ford had similarly predicted that Edsel would sell 200,000 units in its first year on the market. After the car with an oval-shaped front was unveiled in 1957, it barely managed to sell less than one-third of the projected target.

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Joining the same conversation, Tesla’s Cybertruck suffered a familiar fate with numbers dropping lower each successive year. Sales ended up being less than one-sixth of the 250,000-unit per year prediction set by Musk in its first year. As per Bloomberg’s figures, those figures fell under 25,000 the following year.

According to S&P Global Mobility data obtained by Bloomberg, Cybertruck sales are off to a severely troubling start, with only 7,133 being registered in the US this year through May, while Q1 2026 hit a record low of just 3,519 deliveries.

Elon Musk’s praise for Tesla’s Cybertruck over the years

As the niche vehicle witnesses a severe downfall in terms of actual sales-driven popularity, one can’t help but recall how Elon Musk has endlessly racked up high praise for Tesla’s first EV truck. Back in 2019, he introduced it to the world with a Blade Runner-inspired nod, saying, “You want a truck that’s really tough, not fake enough.”

Even earlier this year, he proclaimed on X “Cybertruck is the best vehicle Tesla has ever made so far.” In April, he again re-posted a Cybertruck post on X, saying that the truck is “so awesome… Until you’ve tried it out, you have no idea, because there’s nothing like it. Best product Tesla has ever made to date.”

As opposed to Musk regularly hyping up the Cybertruck, many others have subjected the electric truck to hefty backlash over its polarising design. Following its launch, many critics slammed the angular truck as “ugly.”

Even one of the automaker’s original creators, Martin Eberhard, didn’t mince words in a previous YouTube interview, calling out the truck’s design. “I am actually disappointed that Tesla canceled its low-end car program,” Eberhard said in reference to the company’s present-day CEO scrapping its dedicated low-cost project, a $25,000 “Model 2” EV to prioritise focusing on humanoid robots and robotaxis. “Because that’s what the world needs—not a truck that looks like a dumpster.”

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Even though Tesla’s identity has become synonymous with Musk’s, the electric-car maker’s actual founders were Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. In 2009, Eberhard sued Musk, accusing him of libel and slander for calling himself Tesla’s founder and repeatedly disparaging Eberhard. Elon eventually attained the right to the “co-founder” title as part of an out-of-court settlement.

Ford’s Edsels were also subjected to the same kind of criticism, with many considering them overhyped and unattractive, especially owing to its vertical grille, which many claiming it resembled a horse collar. Ultimately, the car model’s massive failure cost Ford about $350 million in losses, accounting for $2.5 billion in modern dollars, according to Bloomberg.

Although Tesla doesn’t disclose specific loss stats for a particular vehicle in its financial reports, Tesla stock logged its worst week since 2022 after the company recently posted a Q2 earnings report amid slumping Cybertruck sales. The automaker’s shares fell over 17% in the week ending July 24, 2026, closing at $313.03. Stock suffered an 11-month low as the single-session drop after earnings hit 14%.