It will be refunding people’s deposits.
Tesla won’t be selling the Cybertruck in Australia and New Zealand, it told customers who reserved the vehicle seven years ago. In the email the automaker is sending out, it said that its “plans to produce Cybertruck” for those countries “have been discontinued.” Because it can no longer fulfill orders for those regions, it will refund all deposits made by customers within 30 days after they receive the email confirming their details. Tesla is also giving them free year-long access to Full Self-Driving (Supervised) if they order a new Model 3 or Model Y.
According to Drive Australia, the Cybertruck’s availaibility in its country had been in question for years. In 2023, when the automaker started delivering the vehicle to early buyers, the publication’s sources said that Tesla’s Texas factory wasn’t configured to manufacture the Cybertruck in right-hand drive. Without a right-hand drive version, the Cybertruck can’t be legally driven on the streets not just of Australia and New Zealand, but also of the UK, Japan and Ireland.
To note, Tesla hasn’t officially released the Cybertruck in the UK and the European Union anyway, and the vehicle hasn’t received any type of regulatory approval from European officials. It is believed that the model will not be approved in Europe, due to regulations related to crumple zones, pedestrian safety — it has a sharp edges that could strike people — lighting and weight classifications. Even the US Army couldn’t import them into the region. “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,” the US Army Customs Agency said in a notification. If you’ve seen a Cybertruck in Europe, that’s because customers have been able to secure single-vehicle approvals by making enough modifications.
