It’s been looming for weeks, however now the top is close to: Just some 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 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 an alternative combining them beneath “different fashions,” a class that now consists of 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 had been inevitable. What comes subsequent is a little more difficult.
Musk isn’t filling the void left by the Mannequin X and Mannequin S with a standard EV; he ditched plans to provide 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 enter manufacturing, and the Cybercab, an all-electric two-seater autonomous car that was first proven as an idea in 2024.
Tesla plans to construct Optimus robots at its Fremont, California, manufacturing unit as soon as manufacturing of the Mannequin S and Mannequin X finish, which may very well be any day now that closing orders have been taken. Musk has mentioned Tesla will start producing the Cybercab this month at its manufacturing unit in Austin, Texas.
A glance again
The Mannequin S and X EVs have taken a backseat to the extra reasonably priced Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y automobiles. However their debuts, and preliminary gross sales, marked two crucial moments in Tesla’s colourful and infrequently risky historical past. The Mannequin S launched in 2012 as its first quantity EV. Its recognition 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 received 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 unsure anybody ought to make this automobile.”
The Mannequin X was usually delayed, and initially criticized for its complexity. However it in the end launched the corporate to a brand new market: ladies.
The Mannequin X raised Tesla’s profile, and it set the corporate up for its subsequent large transfer: an reasonably priced mass-produced EV. The Mannequin 3 had a troublesome begin, however it 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 high 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 progress 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 had been launched in October have had a modicum of success, in accordance with first-quarter 2026 figures that had 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 under analysts’ expectations of round 368,000.
However by no means thoughts that. In Musk’s view — one which he’s effectively 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 finest embodies, and exposes the dangers of, the corporate’s AI-first marketing campaign.
The Cybercab was designed for use as an autonomous car with out conventional controls like a steering wheel or pedals — that means as soon as it launches will probably be with out the preliminary backup of a human security operator.
The primary Cybercab rolled off the Tesla manufacturing unit 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 could actually ever hit the highway. Federal motorcar security requirements place necessities on automobiles similar to having a steering wheel and pedals. There is no such thing as a proof that Tesla has utilized for an exemption, in accordance with publicly obtainable information with the Federal Register and the Nationwide Freeway 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 exams 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 car firm owned by Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, could find yourself clearing a path for Tesla and its Cybercab. Zoox obtained an exemption from the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration that enables the corporate to show its custom-built robotaxis, which lack pedals or a steering wheel, on public roads. Zoox is now going by a public course of to have that exemption prolonged to industrial operations.
Musk tried to promote shareholders on why the chance was value it in the course of 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 value per mile and likewise for a a lot higher-duty cycle. “I might say in all probability lower than, I’m simply guessing, however in all probability lower than 5% of miles pushed will likely be the place anyone’s really driving the automobile themselves sooner or later, perhaps as little as 1%.”