Tesla Cybertruck production stops for three days

Tons of hype over five years, millions of refundable reservations, and a very polarizing look. That's the Tesla Cybertruck in a few words. And while looks are subjective, the waning demand for it seems to be quite objective.

Case in point: workers on the Cybertruck assembly line in Austin have been given three days off this week: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They will however still receive eight hours of pay for each day. They will return to the production line on Friday.

The company itself hasn't given any reason for this three-day production shutdown for the Cybertruck, but of course it's not hard to speculate that it's all about that waning demand.

Factory workers on the Cybertruck line claim their schedule has been "inconsistent" since October, having been sent home "several times" right after arriving at work, or given additional training exercises or cleaning duties to fill their scheduled work hours with something. Before all of this, back in April Tesla shortened the shifts for workers on the Cybertruck production line.

Another piece of this puzzle is that a few of those who reserved a Cybertruck very late have already received theirs, which is a definite sign that Tesla is going through its reservation list way faster than anyone expected. The fact that the Cybertruck's price ballooned between its original unveiling and the start of orders probably did play a part here with people choosing not to buy one even if they had reserved it.

So while the Cybertruck still has a very distinctive design and represents a huge departure from the boring, similar designs of all of its competitors, its success in terms of actual sales may not be as high as the five-year hype cycle had you believe. And that's why the Robotaxi needed to take over the Tesla hype train, since the Cybertruck clearly isn't the company's next big thing.

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