Elon Musk is having a rough go of it, isn’t he? The world’s richest man spent almost half a billion dollars on the midterms in a failed attempt to defend Republican control of government. Now the tech mogul, who moved from California to Texas to escape Democrats and regulations, finds himself in a newly blue state. He also finds himself the subject of an unflattering documentary and, if the Democrats follow through on threats to investigate him, could potentially be in a spot of legal bother.
And to top it all off? Musk’s beloved Cybertruck, the steel monstrosity that looks as if it were designed by a five-year-old, is winding down production. According to Musk, this isn’t because it’s an abject failure, but because he is channelling his energy into other things. “This is not a case of Cybertruck being unprofitable, as has been misreported by legacy media,” Musk tweeted on Monday. “But rather that the opportunity cost of the complexity of Cybertruck is vastly outweighed by the value of incremental Cybercab production.” (The Cybercab is a two-passenger robotaxi.)
Why not just build a bigger factory, one account on X asked. “It is insanely fucking hard to build a high-volume factory,” Musk replied. “That’s why.” Dude, you want to build colonies on Mars. A factory should be nothing compared to sustaining life on a toxic planet where the temperature can drop as low as minus 128C.
Anyway, good riddance to the Cybertruck, which isn’t just ugly but, arguably, a safety hazard. Not least because it has lots of sharp edges that road safety campaigners condemned as dangerous to other road users and pedestrians. Indeed, the truck is heavily restricted in Europe because it doesn’t meet safety standards.
Cybertrucks can also pose a social hazard to the owner. In 2025, Wired profiled seven Cybertruck drivers about the reactions their vehicle elicited, and they were largely unflattering. One man complained that a woman had put a note on his car saying: “This is an extension of your small dick.” Another man (who was later arrested for taking part in the 6 January attack on the Capitol) said people sometimes made obscene hand gestures at him. Roger Davis, meanwhile, said he loved how polarising the car was. When Wired asked Davis if he was married, he replied: “I was married, but I’m not married any more. Women don’t like the vehicle.” Instead of being a revolutionary pickup truck, Musk’s creation seems to have been very good at driving people away.
• Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
• Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here
