- Tesla is moving some workers from Cybertruck to Model Y production, three workers told BI.
- An internal memo shows the company told workers in December that some people would change teams.
- Tesla last week reported its an annual decline in overall vehicle deliveries.
Tesla is moving some workers off Cybertruck production teams at its Austin factory, according to three workers at the facility.
The shift comes as the automaker grapples with a rare annual decline in deliveries, which is seen as a proxy for sales. The EV maker delivered about 1.79 million vehicles overall in 2024, down around 1% from the previous year.
Now, some workers on the Cybertruck are being reassigned to produce the company’s best-selling Model Y.
The carmaker notified workers in December that it would be changing the Cybertruck and Model Y production schedules and polled workers on their preferred work assignments, according to a survey viewed by Business Insider.
“As we continue to assess schedules to meet business needs, we’ll be making a change to Model Y and Cyber schedules and we want to ensure that your preferences are considered,” the survey said.
Two workers described changing production schedules for existing vehicles as unusual. Typically, such shifts only happen for new vehicles, they said.
The two workers said they were told during meetings with supervisors that month that Tesla was scaling down its Cybertruck team and planned to produce fewer parts for the truck during the first quarter of 2025. The workers said some staff would move to different Cybertruck teams amid the larger schedule changes.
The three workers said the changes are expected to take effect Monday.
Tesla has not announced similar schedule changes at its major factories in Sparks, Nevada and Fremont, California, which do not produce the Cybertruck, according to six workers from those plants.
One Austin Gigafactory worker said most people wanted to stay on the Cybertruck team but “some people were forced to switch over.” The worker speculated the shift was due to the higher profit margins on the Model Y.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
Tesla workers have described relatively brief pauses in Cybertruck production going back at least to October, including a three-day stretch in early December when Cybertruck workers were told they wouldn’t be required to report to work. For that pause, two workers were told the reduction was the result of a lack of working batteries and an imbalance in Cybertruck production.
Tesla has been facing questions about demand for the Cybertruck, which launched in late 2023, since the summer. While an online tally reported by Electrek indicated about 2 million people had reserved the truck before its release, Tesla’s 2024 year-end numbers show limited deliveries so far.
The company doesn’t break out Cybertruck-specific figures, but it reported 85,133 deliveries across its Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck lines in 2024. A government filing released as part of a Cybertruck recall in October indicated Tesla had delivered about 27,000 Cybertrucks.
The company stopped selling the more expensive Foundation series version of the truck in October, and it lowered leasing prices last month.
Meanwhile, people who were later to the Cybertruck waitlist have reported receiving their vehicles within months, faster than expected — a sign early customers may have reconsidered their reservations, which are non-binding.
The Cybertruck was Tesla’s first new vehicle in about four years, and the company faces increasing competition as it attempts to position its fleet against newer, less expensive models from legacy automakers and Chinese startups. The carmaker has the largest share of the US electric-car market, but last year its market share fell below 50% for the first time, according to data from Cox Automotive.
The Model Y continues to drive Tesla’s overall sales. The vehicle was the world’s best-selling car in 2023, with more than 1.2 million units sold, according to an analytics firm cited by Kelley Blue Book. In 2024, Tesla reported 1.7 million combined Model 3 and Model Y deliveries.
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