Manhattan, New Yok
— August 21, 2025

Cybertruck is at the crux of the brand crisis going on at Tesla that nobody seems to be talking about. I went down to the gallery and showroom to check out the product myself—like any good investor does. Here are a couple of my thoughts.

On the positive side, I was impressed by full self-driving, especially in the city environment with so many live variables. The ride is also extremely quiet, comfortable, and smooth. Lastly, the acceleration is unbelievable—I’m still feeling the effects in my neck after the test.

With that said, only about 50,000 to 60,000 units have sold over the last year and a half in the United States. I think we have to call the launch a failure. But let’s talk about why, and what that means for Tesla and the stock.

It all comes down to product-market fit. The Cybertruck never hit the point where it effectively met the needs of a specific market. Let’s dive a little deeper.

If you define one part of the market as conservative, rural, and non-urban suburban, it’s not fitting them in three different areas:

1. Design – Too forward-looking, progressive, and novel for this group.
2. Functionality – Basic things like accessing the truck bed from the side have been reported as difficult.
3. Reliability – A top priority for this group, and there have already been issues and recalls.

The second part of the market is metro and suburban areas—and this is where the brand crisis is really impacting sales. Tesla and Cybertruck are not appealing to these consumers as they lean blue, while Elon Musk is so openly supporting Republicans. Consumers in these areas are just not buying the cars. The ones that do are even getting publicly scolded.

To wrap up: it’s an amazing vehicle with a certain type of appeal, but from an investing perspective, I’m watching Tesla spend a lot of time, money, and resources on a vehicle that has not achieved product-market fit. Meanwhile, competitors in this space are catching up, putting downward pressure on the stock.

Tesla can’t design and engineer their way out of this problem, which I think has always been their go-to solution. I’d love to see them address the brand crisis head-on. I think that would relieve a lot of pressure, and sales would immediately start to pick up.

Let us know what you think, and be good out there.