Tesla launches Cybertruck in the Middle East as American sales crater

Tesla is moving its infamous electric pickup, the Cybertruck, into new territory. The company started delivering the vehicle in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), making the Middle East the second place outside of North America where the truck is officially available, following a launch in South Korea late last year. To celebrate the arrival, Tesla held a big event in the Al Marmoom desert near Dubai. There were light shows and plenty of sand as the first 63 customers drove away in their new stainless steel trucks.

The launch looked like a big party, but the timing is very important for the company. In the United States, demand for the Cybertruck has dropped like a stone. In 2024, Tesla sold 38,965 units of the truck, but in 2025 that number fell to 20,237. That is a 48% decrease in just one year. The end of 2025 was especially difficult. Only 4,140 trucks were delivered in the final three months, which is 68% lower than the year before.

One major reason for the slow sales in the US is the high price. When the truck was first shown in 2019, the goal was a starting price of $39,900. Today, the cheapest version costs $69,990. That is a 75% increase from the original promise. In the Middle East, the prices are even higher. The Dual Motor AWD model starts at AED 404,900, which works out at about $110,000. If you want the more powerful Cyberbeast with three motors, it costs AED 454,900, or roughly $123,000.

Tesla is also opening orders in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and Israel. The company is picking these markets carefully. These countries do not have the same strict rules as Europe, where the Cybertruck is currently not allowed for sale. Regulators there say the sharp steel body is too dangerous for pedestrians and that it does not have "crumple zones" that absorb impact during a crash.

Weight is another big problem for the truck in Europe, where most standard driver's licenses only allow people to drive vehicles that weigh less than 7,716 lb. The Cybertruck is much heavier than that when fully loaded. Even the US Army told its soldiers in Germany that they cannot bring their personal Cybertrucks with them.

In the US, the situation got so bad that Elon Musk's other company, SpaceX, had to help out. SpaceX bought tens of millions of dollars' worth of the trucks that Tesla could not sell to regular customers. The whole Cybertruck saga is far from the 250,000 to 500,000 sales Musk once hoped to see every year. In a recent report, Tesla admitted the Cybertruck was a "big miss" for their goals at the end of the year.

First @cybertruck deliveries in the UAE 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/sN2rAxppUA

— Tesla Europe & Middle East (@teslaeurope) January 22, 2026

Because sales are struggling, people are wondering what will happen next. Years ago, Musk mentioned that if the "weird-looking" truck failed, Tesla could always build a more normal-looking one, but the company is now very busy with other projects, like self-driving robotaxis and humanoid robots. This means a new, friendlier version of the truck might never happen.

For now, the Middle East is a bright spot for the brand. People in the UAE and surrounding countries often buy expensive, flashy EVs, and the Cybertruck certainly fits that description. These markets are smaller than the US, but Tesla seems to hope the excitement in the desert will keep the sales growing.

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