Tesla Refunds Two Million Cybertruck Deposits

Tesla voided two million Cybertruck reservations in Australia and New Zealand on October 23, returning full deposits to customers after a nearly seven-year wait. The company sent emails to reservation holders confirming their orders are cancelled and funds will be returned within 30 days.

Australians began reserving the electric pickup in November 2019 with a A$150 deposit. The notification email states, "After careful consideration, plans to produce Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand have been discontinued." Tesla added that it is "unable to fulfil your reservation and it will be cancelled." Customers who order a new Model 3 or Model Y instead receive a free one-year subscription to FSD (Supervised).

The decision follows a long delay in bringing the vehicle to right-hand-drive markets. Tesla closed its Australian reservation page in May 2022, replacing it with a "Get updates" button without refunding customers. In 2024, Elon Musk told shareholders, "We might be able to certify it for other markets sometime next year," but no right-hand-drive version followed. The Cybertruck is built only in left-hand drive, while Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Japan require right-hand drive vehicles.

Tesla shipped a Cybertruck to Australia for a display tour in 2024. The vehicle faces weak demand in North America, where Tesla delivered 8,295 units of its "Other Models" category in the third quarter of 2026. This category is now almost entirely composed of Cybertrucks since Model S and Model X production ended. Electrek estimates quarterly Cybertruck sales at 7,000 to 8,000 units, or roughly 30,000 annually, against a production line built for 250,000.

Australia and New Zealand have a combined population of about 33 million people. A 2020 crowdsourced survey placed Australia third in Cybertruck reservations behind the United States and Canada, with about 3% of global orders. By 2023, tracking data suggested total reservations reached roughly 2 million. Tesla confirmed the cancellation one day after reporting its third-quarter 2026 earnings.

The company has limited international expansion to left-hand-drive countries. Deliveries began in South Korea in late 2025 and the UAE in January 2026. Configurator options later appeared in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and Israel. The truck remains blocked in the European Union primarily due to pedestrian safety concerns. US Cybertruck sales fell from approximately 39,000 in 2024.

Many Australian reservation holders likely cancelled their orders previously because the 2023 vehicle model cost more and offered less range than promised. The refund process begins immediately for the 2 million affected customers in the region.