It’s been looming for weeks, however now the finish is close to: Only a few hundred Tesla Mannequin S and Mannequin X automobiles stay unsold. Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed this week in a submit on X that {custom} orders of the Mannequin S sedan and Mannequin X SUV are over. “All that’s left are some in stock,” he wrote.
Musk first introduced Tesla’s plan to finish Mannequin S and Mannequin X manufacturing back in January. And the information helps clarify why.
Gross sales of the Tesla Mannequin X and Mannequin S have fallen steadily over the years as the firm’s excessive quantity and cheaper entries — the Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y — took over. Tesla doesn’t separate S and X gross sales, as an alternative combining them beneath “different fashions,” a class that now contains the Cybertruck. And people mixed figures present S and X gross sales peaking in 2017 at 101,312 automobiles before declining to 50,850 automobiles (together with Cybertruck) in 2025 — a fraction of the 1.63 million automobiles it delivered globally final yr.
In different phrases, their deaths had been inevitable. What comes subsequent is a bit extra sophisticated.
Musk isn’t filling the void left by the Mannequin X and Mannequin S with a conventional EV; he ditched plans to produce a lower-cost EV that was anticipated to be priced round $25,000. As a substitute, Musk is inserting his bets on the Optimus robotic, which has but to go into manufacturing, and the Cybercab, an all-electric two-seater autonomous automobile that was first shown as a concept in 2024.
Tesla plans to construct Optimus robots at its Fremont, California, manufacturing facility as soon as manufacturing of the Mannequin S and Mannequin X finish, which may very well be any day now that ultimate orders have been taken. Musk has stated Tesla will start producing the Cybercab this month at its manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas.
A glance again
The Mannequin S and X EVs have taken a backseat to the extra inexpensive Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y automobiles. However their debuts, and preliminary gross sales, marked two vital moments in Tesla’s colourful and sometimes risky historical past. The Mannequin S launched in 2012 as its first quantity EV. Its recognition not solely modified how customers seen EVs, it prompted legacy automakers — lengthy dismissive of the worth of electrical automobiles — to take discover.
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The Mannequin X adopted in fall 2015 and was famously described by Musk as the Fabergé egg of EVs.
“I feel we acquired extra carried away with the X,” Musk stated in a September 2015 press interview attended by this reporter simply an hour before Tesla’s Mannequin X supply occasion started. “I’m not positive anybody ought to make this automobile.”
The Mannequin X was typically delayed, and initially criticized for its complexity. Nevertheless it finally launched the firm to a brand new market: ladies.
The Mannequin X raised Tesla’s profile, and it set the firm up for its subsequent huge transfer: an inexpensive mass-produced EV. The Mannequin 3 had a troublesome begin, nevertheless it ended up catapulting Tesla into the mainstream. The Mannequin Y clinched its standing, serving to Tesla widen the hole as the top-selling EV producer globally till China’s BYD took over that high world EV gross sales spot in 2025 when it delivered 2.26 million EVs.
Tesla continues to promote hundreds of Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y, however its growth has stalled, and even reversed. The corporate reported in January that it offered 1.69 million automobiles in 2025, a lower for the second yr in a row. Its efforts to increase gross sales with cheaper, stripped-down variations of the Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y that had been launched in October have had a modicum of success, in accordance to first-quarter 2026 figures that had been reported April 2.
Tesla delivered 358,023 EVs globally in the first three months of the yr, about 6% greater than the similar interval in 2025, which additionally occurred to be the company’s worst quarter in years. The determine was under analysts’ expectations of round 368,000.
However by no means thoughts that. In Musk’s view — one which he is nicely compensated for — Tesla isn’t an automaker or a sustainable power firm, as he has described it before. Tesla is an AI firm and his new gambit goes all in on that mission.
Cybercab dangers
The Optimus robotic is one a part of the Tesla AI effort. Nevertheless it’s maybe the Cybercab that finest embodies, and exposes the dangers of, the firm’s AI-first marketing campaign.
The Cybercab was designed to be used as an autonomous automobile with out conventional controls like a steering wheel or pedals — which means as soon as it launches it is going to be with out the preliminary backup of a human security operator.
The primary Cybercab rolled off the Tesla manufacturing facility meeting line in February and is supposed to go into mass manufacturing this month. Though that date may slip, as so many have in Tesla’s historical past.
Not like Tesla’s earlier automobiles, the challenges aren’t in its manufacturing (who can neglect the production hell of the Mannequin 3). As a substitute, it faces a serious regulatory hurdle before it could ever hit the highway. Federal motorized vehicle security requirements place necessities on automobiles corresponding to having a steering wheel and pedals. There is no proof that Tesla has utilized for an exemption, in accordance to publicly out there information with the Federal Register and the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration.
The automobiles will even rely on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software program to navigate public streets and safely shuttle passengers to their vacation spot. Regardless of enhancements to FSD and restricted driverless robotaxi assessments in Austin, Tesla has not but demonstrated that its software program can function reliably at scale.
And that piece requires greater than technical mastery. Robotaxi operations are additionally difficult. And in states like California, additionally they require permits to deploy and cost for rides in driverless automobiles.
Zoox, the autonomous automobile firm owned by Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, could find yourself clearing a path for Tesla and its Cybercab. Zoox received an exemption from the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration that enables the firm to exhibit its custom-built robotaxis, which lack pedals or a steering wheel, on public roads. Zoox is now going by means of a public course of to have that exemption extended to commercial operations.
Musk tried to promote shareholders on why the threat was price it throughout the firm’s earnings name in January.
“The overwhelming majority of miles traveled will likely be autonomous in the future,” Musk stated at the time, later noting that the Cybercab is tremendous optimized for minimal price per mile and likewise for a a lot higher-duty cycle. “I’d say most likely lower than, I’m simply guessing, however most likely lower than 5% of miles pushed will likely be the place any person’s really driving the automobile themselves in the future, perhaps as little as 1%.”
Disclaimer: This article is sourced from external platforms. OverBeta has not independently verified the information. Readers are advised to verify details before relying on them.
