It’s been looming for weeks, however now the tip 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 put up 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 again in January. And the info helps clarify why.
Gross sales of the Tesla Mannequin X and Mannequin S have fallen steadily over time as the corporate’s excessive quantity and cheaper entries — the Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y — took over. Tesla doesn’t separate S and X gross sales, as a substitute combining them underneath “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 earlier than 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 have been inevitable. What comes subsequent is a little more sophisticated.
Musk isn’t filling the void left by the Mannequin X and Mannequin S with a conventional EV; he ditched plans to supply a lower-cost EV that was anticipated to be priced round $25,000. As a substitute, Musk is putting his bets on the Optimus robotic, which has but to enter manufacturing, and the Cybercab, an all-electric two-seater autonomous automobile that was first proven as an idea 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 could possibly be any day now that ultimate orders have been taken. Musk has mentioned 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 important moments in Tesla’s colourful and infrequently risky historical past. The Mannequin S launched in 2012 as its first quantity EV. Its reputation not solely modified how customers considered 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 because the Fabergé egg of EVs.
“I believe we bought extra carried away with the X,” Musk mentioned in a September 2015 press interview attended by this reporter simply an hour earlier than Tesla’s Mannequin X supply occasion started. “I’m undecided anybody ought to make this automotive.”
The Mannequin X was usually delayed, and initially criticized for its complexity. However it finally launched the corporate to a brand new market: girls.
The Mannequin X raised Tesla’s profile, and it set the corporate up for its subsequent massive transfer: an inexpensive mass-produced EV. The Mannequin 3 had a tough begin, but it surely ended up catapulting Tesla into the mainstream. The Mannequin Y clinched its standing, serving to Tesla widen the hole because the top-selling EV producer globally till China’s BYD took over that prime international 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 development 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 spice up gross sales with cheaper, stripped-down variations of the Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y that have been launched in October have had a modicum of success, in line with first-quarter 2026 figures that have been reported April 2.
Tesla delivered 358,023 EVs globally within the first three months of the yr, about 6% greater than the identical interval in 2025, which additionally occurred to be the corporate’s worst quarter in years. The determine was beneath analysts’ expectations of round 368,000.
However by no means thoughts that. In Musk’s view — one which he’s nicely compensated for — Tesla isn’t an automaker or a sustainable vitality firm, as he has described it earlier than. 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. However it’s maybe the Cybercab that greatest embodies, and exposes the dangers of, the corporate’s AI-first marketing campaign.
The Cybercab was designed for use as an autonomous automobile with out conventional controls like a steering wheel or pedals — that 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 meant to enter mass manufacturing this month. Though that date might 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 manufacturing hell of the Mannequin 3). As a substitute, it faces a significant regulatory hurdle earlier than it will probably ever hit the highway. Federal motorized vehicle security requirements place necessities on automobiles comparable to having a steering wheel and pedals. There is no such thing as a proof that Tesla has utilized for an exemption, in line with publicly accessible information with the Federal Register and the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration.
The automobiles may even depend 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 checks 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 tough. 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 acquired an exemption from the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration that permits the corporate to reveal its custom-built robotaxis, which lack pedals or a steering wheel, on public roads. Zoox is now going via a public course of to have that exemption prolonged to business operations.
Musk tried to promote shareholders on why the chance was value it through the firm’s earnings name in January.
“The overwhelming majority of miles traveled will likely be autonomous sooner or later,” Musk mentioned on 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 individual’s really driving the automotive themselves sooner or later, perhaps as little as 1%.”
