Tesla Cybertruck won’t come to Australia as reservation holders get refunds

Key takeaways

• Tesla has cancelled the Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand.
• Reservation deposits will be refunded in full within 30 days.
• A free 12-month FSD (Supervised) subscription comes with a new Model 3 or Model Y.

Tesla has confirmed the Cybertruck will not be sold in Australia, ending a wait that began when local reservations opened in 2019. The company wrote to Australian and New Zealand reservation holders on Friday morning, telling them plans for a right-hand-drive version had been dropped.

Every reservation will be cancelled and deposits returned in full. Tesla is also offering a free year of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) to customers who move into a new Model 3 or Model Y.

How Cybertruck refunds will work

Customers will receive a second email asking them to confirm their refund details, and Tesla says the money will be returned within 30 days of that.

Australian deposits were $150 and fully refundable. The local order book opened in late 2019, less than a month after the Cybertruck was revealed in the US.

The FSD subscription is attached to a new Model 3 or Model Y order made under the same email address as the reservation, activates after delivery, and can be combined with Tesla’s other current offers. FSD (Supervised) costs $149 a month, which puts the offer’s value at about $1788.

Why the Cybertruck never reached Australia

Tesla has only ever built the Cybertruck in left-hand drive. Australia would probably have been its only right-hand-drive market, and the ute has sold well below expectations in the US.

The order button disappeared from Tesla’s Australian website in May 2022, and no new reservations have been accepted since. Tesla has previously said tens of thousands of Australians placed reservations between 2019 and 2021.

The project looked alive again in 2025. Tesla Australia country director Thom Drew said at the time that the company was working to build the Cybertruck in right-hand drive, and the local team had been briefed on the Australian Design Rule changes required, including bumper width and exterior lighting.

Left-hand-drive display models toured Tesla stores here in 2024, though test drives were never offered. Tesla hasn’t explained the decision publicly beyond the customer email.

Buyers still keen on an electrified ute can look at the BYD Shark 6 plug-in hybrid, the Ford Ranger PHEV or the fully electric Toyota HiLux BEV, although none match the Cybertruck’s full-size footprint.