The Tesla Cybertruck may have a divisive design and debatable pickup truck credentials, but one thing is clear: People are buying it. Elon Musk’s brash, alloy-paneled pickup performed exceptionally the third quarter to become the third best-selling electric vehicle in the United States, according to Tech Crunch. What’s more, the only two better-selling vehicles were its Model 3 and Model Y SUV stablemates.
Data gathered by the automotive appraisers at Kelley Blue Book shows that Tesla sold 16,000 Cybertrucks in Q3, a figure far higher than the brand’s competitors enjoyed. Ford only sold 7,000 F-150 Lightning pickups and 13,000 Mustang Mach-E SUVs in the same time period, while GM’s Blazer and Equinox EVs hit 32,000 total sales combined. Upstart Rivian delivered 3,800 of its own electric pickups.
Customers first began taking deliveries of the Cybertruck in November of 2023, and reactions to witnessing one in the wild remain polarized a year later. Posting a pic on X of a Cybertruck seen outside of a Las Vegas resort, one user wrote, “[Looks] so beautiful. Everybody [is] taking [a] picture of it.” A body-wrapped example inspired another X user to write, “get excited every time I see a Tesla Cybertruck!! This one was in a parade and I love the iridescent wrap!! So cool!!”
There are as many critiques as compliments of the design in particular. “The [Cybertruck] still looks like a complete joke…it looks like a 3rd grader was asked to make a car,” posted one person on X. Another said, “Standing right beside a Tesla Cybertruck IRL, it still looks like something designed & built in a shed behind somebody’s house with limited tools.”
Whether the Cybertruck fulfills its pickup truck purpose is another contested issue. Car and Driver writes that the “buzz-worthy Cybertruck leads with show-pony party tricks and high-tech features, but it’s also a capable workhorse with a practical side,” a sentiment echoed by many other automotive outlets. However, when put through a hellish gauntlet by YouTuber Cody Detwiler, aka WhistlinDiesel, the Cybertruck’s bumper and hitch broke off, seemingly damaging the frame. An F-150 survived similar similar stress tests conducted by Detwiler in a subsequent video.
Controversy aside, the Cybertruck sales numbers speak for themselves: It’s America’s best-selling electric pickup by some margin.
