Cybertruck sales in free fall as Tesla reports mediocre sales for Q3
Ars Technica · LC · trust 48/100
-2% is better than -8% Cybertruck sales in free fall as Tesla reports mediocre sales for Q3 Tesla met analysts expectations as it sold fewer cars in Q3 2026 than Q3 2025.
171 Tesla's sales are on autopilot. Credit: Getty Images Tesla's sales are on autopilot. Credit: Getty Images Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav Tesla sold 486,532 electric vehicles during the third quarter of 2026. That’s a 2.1 percent decrease on the same quarter in 2025, when the company found homes for 497,099 EVs, and one might think that would be bad news for a company valued on the premise of near-constant growth.
But Tesla stock is up this morning; the year-over-year numbers might look bad, but the company still exceeded analysts’ expectations of 456,600 cars, which would have been a larger 8 percent year-on-year decline
Total production at Tesla actually increased year over year; it built 464,391 vehicles—a 3.7 percent increase—457,387 of which were Models 3 and Y (a 4.9 percent increase year over year). The remaining 7,004 were other models, mostly Cybertrucks, with presumably some Semis and Cybercabs, as the Models S and X are now retired; this category saw a 39.8 percent decrease year over year.
But the company couldn’t sell all the cars it made in Q3. It was able to sell 478,237 Models 3 and Y, a 0.6 percent decrease compared to Q3 2025. The decline in other models was severe, dropping by 48 percent to 8,295 units in total.
However, Tesla’s energy storage business had a much better three months. Between the beginning of July and the end of September, Tesla deployed 13.7 GWh of energy storage products, a 9.6 percent year-over-year increase.
Tesla will publish its Q3 financial results on October 21.
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