It’s been apparent for weeks, but now the end is near: Just a few hundred Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles remain unsold. Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed this week in a post on X that custom orders of the Model S sedan and Model X SUV have ended. “All that’s left is a little stock,” he wrote.
Musk first announced Tesla’s plan to end Model S and Model X production in January. And the data explains why.
Sales of the Tesla Model X and Model S have steadily declined over the years as the company’s high-volume, cheaper entries — the Model 3 and Model Y — have taken over. Tesla doesn’t separate S and X sales, instead combining them under “other models,” a category that now includes the Cybertruck. And those combined figures show S and X sales peaking in 2017 at 101,312 vehicles before falling to 50,850 vehicles (including the Cybertruck) in 2025 — a fraction of the 1.63 million vehicles it delivered worldwide last year.
In other words, their death was inevitable. What follows is a bit more complicated.
Musk isn’t filling the void left by the Model X and Model S with a traditional EV. abandoned plans to produce a lower-cost EV expected to cost around $25,000. Instead, Musk is placing his bets on the Optimus robot, which is not yet in production and Cybercaba fully electric two-seater autonomous vehicle first shown as a prototype in 2024.
Tesla plans to build Optimus robots at its Fremont, Calif., factory when the Model S and Model X end production, which could be any day now that final orders have been taken. Musk said Tesla will begin production of the Cybercab this month at its plant in Austin, Texas.
A look back
The Model S and X EVs have taken a back seat to the more affordable Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. But their debut, and initial sales, marked two critical moments in Tesla’s colorful and often volatile history. The Model S was launched in 2012 as the first volume EV. Its popularity not only changed the way consumers viewed EVs, but also prompted legacy automakers — who had long defied the value of electric vehicles — to take notice.
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The Model X followed in the fall of 2015 and was famously described by Musk as the Fabergé egg of EVs.
“I think we got more carried away with the X,” Musk said at a press conference in September 2015, which this reporter attended just an hour before Tesla’s Model X delivery event began. “I’m not sure anyone should build this car.”
The Model X was often delayed and initially criticized for its complexity. But he eventually introduced the company to a new market: women.
The Model X raised Tesla’s profile and prepared the company for its next big move: an affordable, mass-produced EV. The Model 3 had a rocky start, but it ended up launching Tesla into the mainstream. The Model Y earned its status, helping Tesla widen the gap as the world’s top selling EV maker until China’s BYD takes over the top global EV sales spot in 2025, when delivered 2.26 million EVs.
Tesla continues to sell thousands of Model 3s and Model Ys, but its growth has stalled and even reversed. The company reported in January that it sold 1.69 million vehicles in 2025, a decline for the second straight year. Its efforts to boost sales with cheaper, stripped-down versions of the Model 3 and Model Y introduced in October met with little success, according to first-quarter 2026 figures reported on April 2.
Tesla delivered 358,023 electric vehicles worldwide in the first three months of the year, about 6% more than the corresponding period in 2025, which also happened to be the company’s worst quarter in years. The number was below analysts’ expectations of about 368,000.
But never mind that. In Musk’s view—something for which he is well compensated—Tesla is not an automaker or a sustainable energy company, as he has described it in the past. Tesla is an artificial intelligence company, and its new gambit goes all in on that mission.
Risks of Cybercab
The Optimus robot is a part of the Tesla AI effort. But it’s perhaps the Cybercab that best embodies and exposes the dangers of the company’s first AI campaign.
The Cybercab was designed to be used as an autonomous vehicle without traditional controls such as a steering wheel or pedals – meaning that once launched it will be without the initial support of a human safety operator.
The first Cybercab rolled off the assembly line at Tesla’s factory in February and is supposed to go into mass production this month. Although that date could slip, like many in Tesla’s history.
Unlike previous Tesla vehicles, the challenges are not in its production (who can forget the Model 3 production hell). Instead, it faces a major regulatory hurdle before it can hit the road. Federal motor vehicle safety standards set requirements for vehicles such as steering wheels and pedals. There is no evidence that Tesla has applied for an exemption, according to publicly available records with the Federal Register and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The vehicles will also rely on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software to navigate public roads and safely transport passengers to their destination. Despite improvements to FSD and limited driverless robotaxi testing in Austin, Tesla has yet to prove that its software can work reliably at scale.
And this piece requires more than technical mastery. The robotaxi modes are also difficult. And in states like California, they also require permits to install and charge for rides in driverless vehicles.
Zoox, Jeff Bezos’ Amazon-owned self-driving vehicle company, may end up paving a path for Tesla and its Cybercab. Zoox received an exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that allows the company to show off its custom robot taxi, which has no pedals or steering wheel, on public roads. Zoox is now going through a public process to extend this exemption to commercial activities.
Musk tried to sell shareholders on why the risk was worth it during the company’s earnings call in January.
“The vast majority of miles driven will be autonomous in the future,” Musk said at the time, later noting that the Cybercab is highly optimized for minimal cost per mile and also for a much higher duty cycle. “I would say probably less than, I guess, but probably less than 5% of the miles driven will be where someone actually drives the car themselves in the future, maybe even 1%.”
