Tesla Scraps Cybertruck Plans for Australia and New Zealand, Refunds Reservation Deposits

Tesla has abandoned plans to sell the Cybertruck in Australia and New Zealand, informing customers who put down reservations for the vehicle seven years ago that it will not be coming to their markets.

In an email being sent to reservation holders, the company said its "plans to produce Cybertruck" for the two countries "have been discontinued." Since Tesla can no longer fulfill orders in the region, it said it will refund every deposit within 30 days of customers receiving an email that confirms their details.

As a gesture to affected customers, Tesla is also offering a free year of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) access to anyone who orders a new Model 3 or Model Y.

Questions about whether the Cybertruck would ever reach Australia had lingered for years, according to Drive Australia. When Tesla began delivering the truck to early buyers in 2023, the publication's sources indicated that the company's Texas factory was not set up to build the vehicle with right-hand drive.

That limitation matters well beyond Australia and New Zealand. Without a right-hand-drive version, the Cybertruck cannot legally be driven on public roads in those two countries, or in the United Kingdom, Japan and Ireland.

Tesla has not officially launched the Cybertruck in the UK or the European Union either, and the vehicle has not obtained any form of regulatory approval from European authorities. It is widely believed it will not be approved there, owing to rules covering crumple zones, pedestrian safety, lighting and weight classifications. The truck's sharp edges are seen as a particular hazard to people it might strike.

Even the US Army has been unable to bring Cybertrucks into the region. In a notification, the US Army Customs Agency said: "Several specifications of the Cybertruck, particularly the sharp-edged, stiff stainless-steel body, violate EU safety standards, primarily for the protection of vulnerable road users."

Cybertrucks that have been spotted in Europe got there through a workaround. Individual owners have been able to secure single-vehicle approvals by making enough modifications to the truck to satisfy regulators.