What had been looming for weeks is now coming to an end. Only a few hundred Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles remain unsold. Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed in a post on X this week that custom orders for the Model S sedan and Model X SUV have ended. “All that’s left is what’s in the inventory.” he wrote.
Musk first announced plans to stop producing Tesla’s Model S and Model X in January. And data helps explain why.
Sales of the Tesla Model Tesla won’t separate S and X sales, instead combining them into “Other Models,” a category that currently includes the Cybertruck. And according to these combined figures, S and That’s just a fraction of the 1.63 million units it sold worldwide last year.
In other words, their death was inevitable. What comes next is a bit more complicated.
Musk isn’t filling the void left by Model X and Model S with a traditional EV. He abandoned plans to produce a low-cost EV, expected to cost around $25,000. Instead, Musk is betting on Optimus, a robot that has not yet entered production, and CyberCap, an all-electric two-seater autonomous vehicle that was first introduced as a concept in 2024.
Tesla plans to build the Optimus robot at its Fremont, California, plant once production of the Model S and Model X ends. This can be done at any time once the final order has been received. Musk said Tesla will begin production of the CyberCab at its Austin, Texas, plant this month.
look back
The Model S and X EVs have taken a backseat to the more affordable Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. But their debut and early sales marked two key moments in Tesla’s colorful and often unstable history. Model S was released as the first volume EV in 2012. Its popularity has not only changed the way consumers view EVs, but has also put traditional automakers, who had long downplayed the value of electric vehicles, in the spotlight.
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The Model X was launched in the fall of 2015 and was famously described by Musk as the Fabergé egg of EVs.
“I think we were more excited about the X,” Musk said in a September 2015 press interview attended by this reporter, just an hour before Tesla’s Model “I’m not sure who should build this car.”
Model X was often delayed and initially criticized for its complexity. But it ultimately introduced the company to a new market: women.
The Model X raised Tesla’s profile and prepared the company for its next big move: affordable, mass-produced EVs. The Model 3 had a difficult start, but it eventually catapulted Tesla into the mainstream. The Model Y helped Tesla widen the gap as the best-selling EV manufacturer globally until China’s BYD took over the top spot in global EV sales in 2025, with 2.26 million EVs sold.
Tesla continues to sell thousands of Model 3s and Model Ys, but its growth has stalled and even reversed. The company reported in January that it sold 1.69 million vehicles in 2025, the second straight year of declines. Efforts to boost sales with cheaper, simpler versions of the Model 3 and Model Y launched last October have met with some success, according to first-quarter 2026 figures reported April 2.
Tesla delivered 358,023 EVs globally in the first three months of this year, about 6% more than in the same period in 2025, which was also the company’s worst quarter. That figure was lower than analysts’ expectations of about 368,000.
But don’t worry. In Musk’s well-compensated view, Tesla is neither an automaker nor a sustainable energy company, as he has previously described. Tesla is an AI company, and his new scheme goes all in on that mission.
Cybercap Risk
The Optimus robot is part of Tesla’s AI efforts. But perhaps it is Cybercab that best implements the company’s AI-first campaign and exposes its risks.
The Cybercab is designed to be used as an autonomous vehicle without traditional controls such as a steering wheel or pedals. This means that once launched, no initial support from a human safety operator is required.
The first CyberCab rolled off the Tesla factory assembly line in February and is scheduled to enter mass production this month. Although that date may be delayed, as it has been for many others in Tesla’s history.
Unlike Tesla’s previous vehicles, the problem isn’t production (who could forget the production hell of the Model 3). Instead, it faces major regulatory hurdles before it can be launched. Federal automobile safety standards establish requirements for vehicles such as steering wheel and pedal mounting. There is no evidence that Tesla applied for an exemption, according to files released by the Federal Register and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The vehicle also uses Tesla’s fully self-driving software to navigate public streets and safely shuttle passengers to their destinations. Despite improvements to FSD and limited driverless robotaxi testing in Austin, Tesla has yet to demonstrate that its software can operate reliably at scale.
And the work requires more than technical mastery. Robotaxi work is also difficult. And states like California also require permits to deploy and charge driverless vehicles.
Zoox, the self-driving car company owned by Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, may eventually pave the way for Tesla and Cybercab. Zoox has received a waiver from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to demonstrate its custom robotaxi, which has no pedals or steering wheel, on public roads. Zoox is currently going through a public process to expand that exemption to its commercial operations.
On the company’s earnings call in January, Musk tried to sell shareholders why the risk was worth it.
Musk said at the time that “the majority of miles traveled will be autonomous in the future,” and later noted that the CyberCab is highly optimized for minimal cost per mile and much higher duty cycles. “I’d say it’s probably less than that, but less than 5% of miles driven in the future will be where someone is actually driving the car themselves. Maybe even as low as 1%.”
