Ford’s Edsel, unveiled in 1957, was pitched as an entirely new kind of car, with an oval-shaped front grille likened to a horse collar. The company predicted it would sell 200,000 units in the model’s first year on the market. Ford ended up selling less than one-third of that target, and the Edsel’s design became the butt of jokes.
Tesla started delivering its unusually angular Cybertruck in 2023. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk called it the company’s best product ever and estimated the carmaker might build more than 250,000 annually, depending on demand. Tesla sold less than one-sixth of that number in its first year, and the truck’s blocky looks became a punchline.
Edsel sales dropped each year the model was on the market, and Ford discontinued the car in 1959. Cybertruck sales are off to an even worse start. Only 7,133 have been registered in the US this year through May, according to S&P Global Mobility data provided to Bloomberg News. That count is buoyed by Musk’s other companies, with SpaceX building out a fleet of Cybertrucks.
Tesla doesn’t break out Cybertruck sales in its financial releases, and investors likely will be more focused on the company’s spending toward driverless vehicle and robotics ambitions when it reports second-quarter earnings on Wednesday. While the Cybertruck has been a huge disappointment for Tesla, Garrett Nelson, an equity analyst at CFRA Research, thinks it’s unlikely the company will announce it’s being discontinued in the next year or two.
“It’s possible that they try to do some sort of redesign, or come up with a different variant to try to boost sales,” he said, “but we think that would really be a futile effort.”
Most likely, Nelson said, “it’s probably just going to fade away.”
Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment.
To be sure, the Edsel and Cybertruck have plenty of company.
In the early 1980s, John DeLorean introduced his namesake stainless-steel sports car with gull-wing doors. Quality issues and a price tag more than twice that of the average new car meant only roughly 9,000 ever were produced.
When General Motors’ Pontiac brand introduced the Aztek in 2000, the midsize SUV’s plastic-clad body was so sharply criticised that it was redesigned after just a few months. The Aztek reached just 37% of its 75,000 sales target in its peak year, according to car-buying researcher Edmunds. GM discontinued it in 2005.
But neither of these models had initial sales projections as ambitious as those for the Edsel and Cybertruck.
High Hopes
Ford launched the Edsel with a prime-time TV special to show off its vertical grille, a rotating dome speedometer and the option of a “Teletouch” push-button shift in the centre of the steering wheel. Its base-model price was less than $2,500 — about $30,000 in today’s dollars — in an attempt to make it affordable for the middle class.
Car buyers were not impressed. The US was in recession in 1958, and consumers were watching their wallets. Despite Ford’s extensive consumer research for the Edsel, the car’s design didn’t look modern.
“For most people it was just downright ugly,” said Don Sherman, a journalist and auto historian.
Musk had talked up Tesla’s first EV truck for years. He unveiled it in 2019 with a Blade Runner-inspired introduction, saying “You want a truck that’s really tough, not fake tough.”
When Tesla’s chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen, smashed the truck’s steel exterior with a sledgehammer, it didn’t dent. But then von Holzhausen threw a metallic ball at the truck’s “armor glass,” which shattered. Customers still pre-ordered the pickup by the thousands after Musk touted a starting price of $39,900.
Initial reviews were mixed at best, with Road & Track calling the design “wacky.” By the time Tesla started delivering the pickup years behind schedule, the company charged initial buyers more than $100,000.
“The Cybertruck is very niche,” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of Industry Insights at Cox Automotive. “The design can be very polarizing. It’s expensive.”
Quality and Design Issues
Edsel’s steering-wheel-based Teletouch transmission system frequently malfunctioned and confused drivers – many attempting to honk the horn would end up reversing their car instead.
Ford had the Edsel built on the same assembly lines as its standard Ford and Mercury vehicles. Quality suffered, since workers had to switch tools, then switch back without slowing the production line. This led to Edsels being shipped unfinished, with parts in the trunks for dealerships to install.
Cybertrucks faced production challenges from the start. Its stainless-steel body was difficult to shape and weld together. It’s been plagued by recalls, and Tesla has been sued because its truck’s doors wouldn’t open after a crash.
Musk’s polarising political activities haven’t helped. The world’s richest man was the largest individual donor in the 2024 presidential election and faced a Democratic backlash for his support of President Donald Trump. He led the Department of Government Efficiency that slashed federal programs and their workforces, leading to protests at Tesla showrooms and calls for boycotts. Some Tesla owners sold their vehicles, and the Cybertruck in particular became a symbol synonymous with Musk.
In the end, the Edsel failure cost Ford about $350 million in losses, or $2.5 billion in modern dollars. Yet many collectors today appreciate the Edsel’s novelty and pay up to $35,000 for restored models.
It’s unclear what the Cybertruck’s appeal might be in years to come.
“Much like the Edsel or Aztek, the Cybertruck’s unconventional styling was always going to limit its appeal to a niche audience rather than traditional, pragmatic car buyers,” said Jessica Caldwell, head of insights at Edmunds. “It essentially serves as a rolling billboard for divided public sentiment, creating just as much brand friction in the market as it does attention.”
