The final days for the Tesla Model X and S are here. All bets are on Cybercab.

It’s been looming for weeks, but now the end is near: Just a few hundred Tesla Model S and Model X cars remain unsold. Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed this week in a post on X that custom orders for the Model S sedan and Model X SUV have ended. “The rest is on the list,” he wrote.

Musk first announced Tesla’s plan to end production of the Model S and Model X back in January. And the data helps explain why.

Sales of the Tesla Model X and Model S have fallen slightly in recent years as the company’s higher-volume and cheaper entries — the Model 3 and Model Y — take over. Tesla doesn’t separate sales of the S and X, instead lumping them together under “other models,” a category that now includes the Cybertruck. And those combined figures show S and X sales increasing in 2017 to 101,312 vehicles before declining to 50,850 vehicles (including the Cybertruck) in 2025 – a fraction of the 1.63 million vehicles delivered worldwide last year.

In other words, their death was inevitable. The following is more complicated.

Musk isn’t filling the void left by the Model X and Model S with a traditional EV; is abandoning plans to produce a low-cost EV that was expected to cost around $25,000. Instead, Musk is placing his bets on the Optimus robot, which has yet to enter production, and the Cybercab, an electric two-seater vehicle that was first shown as a concept in 2024.

Tesla plans to build Optimus robots at its Fremont, California factory, where the Model S and the end of the Model X are produced, 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 factory in Austin, Texas.

Looking back

The Model S and X EVs took a back seat to the more affordable Model 3 and Model Y. But their debuts, and first sales, marked two critical moments in Tesla’s colorful and often volatile history. The Model S was introduced in 2012 as its first EV. Its popularity has not only changed how consumers view EVs, it’s also caused die-hard automakers — long dismissive of the importance of electric vehicles — to take notice.

The Model X followed in the fall of 2015 and was famously described by Musk as the Fabergé egg of EVs.

“I think we’ve gotten too excited about the X,” Musk said in a September 2015 press conference attended by this reporter an hour before Tesla’s Model X delivery event began. “I’m not sure anyone should make this car.”

The Model X was often delayed, and was initially criticized for its complexity. But it finally 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 rough start, but eventually put Tesla in the mainstream. The Model Y found its place, helping Tesla widen the gap as the world’s best-selling EV manufacturer until China’s BYD takes over that top EV sales spot in 2025 when it delivers 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 will sell 1.69 million vehicles by 2025, the second consecutive year of decline. Its efforts to boost sales with cheaper, stripped-down versions of the Model 3 and Model Y introduced in October had little success, according to first-quarter 2026 figures reported on April 2.

Tesla delivered 358,023 EVs worldwide in the first three months of the year, about 6% more than the same period in 2025, which was also the company’s worst quarter in years. The figure was below analysts’ expectations of around 368,000.

But ignore that. In Musk’s view – one for which he is well compensated – Tesla is neither a car maker nor a sustainable energy company, as he has previously explained. Tesla is an AI company and its new gambit is all about that work.

Cybercab risks

The Optimus robot is part of Tesla’s AI effort. But it’s perhaps Cybercab that sums it up best, and exposes the risks 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 when it launches it will be without the primary backup of a human safety operator.

The first Cybercab rolled off the Tesla factory assembly line in February and should begin mass production this month. Although that day may slip by, as many have in Tesla’s history.

Unlike Tesla’s previous cars, the challenges are not in its production (who can forget the production hell of the Model 3). Instead, it faces a major regulatory hurdle before it hits the road. Federal vehicle safety standards impose requirements on vehicles such as having a steering wheel and pedals. There is no evidence that Tesla has applied for an exemption, according to publicly available files with the Federal Register and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The cars will also rely on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system to navigate public roads and transport passengers safely to their destinations. Despite FSD’s development and a limited test of a driverless robotaxi in Austin, Tesla has yet to show that its software can reliably work at scale.

And that piece requires more than technical skill. Robotaxi jobs are also tricky. And in states like California, they also require permits to use and charge for rides in driverless cars.

Zoox, the autonomous vehicle company owned by Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, may eventually pave the way for Tesla and its Cybercab. Zoox received an exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that allows the company to demonstrate the custom-built roboaxis, which has no pedals or steering wheel, on public roads. Zoox is now conducting a public process to have that exemption extended to commercial activities.

Musk tried to sell shareholders on why the risk was worth it during the company’s earnings call in January.

“Most of the miles traveled will be self-managing in the future,” Musk said at the time, later noting that the Cybercab has been significantly improved with a lower cost per mile and a higher duty cycle. “I would say probably less than this, I’m just guessing, but probably less than 5% of the miles driven will be self-driving in the future, maybe 1% less.”