It was probably fun while it lasted for Tesla’s struggling Cybertruck, but the controversial rig has now surrendered its brief reign at the top of the electric-pickup hill. Citing S&P Global Mobility data, Automotive News reports that the Ford F-150 Lightning racked up more registrations than the Cybertruck in the first quarter of 2025: 7,913 for the Ford against 7,126 for the Tesla.
The natural order of things has been restored. Of course, this comes after the Lightning lost out to Cybertruck in the battle for the overall 2024 sales crown, with Ford moving 32,893 units to Tesla’s 39,442. It’s tempting to blame Elon Musk’s DOGE hijinks since Trump took office for the Q1 slide, but it’s more likely that the expensive and exotic Cybertruck is starting to run out of customers. The Lightning, meanwhile, is mostly a normal full-size pickup that just happens to be fueled by electrons.
Before we get too excited about a budding battle royale between Ford — whose gas-burning F-150 has been America’s best selling vehicle every year since the Reagan Administration — and upstart Tesla, we should acknowledge that neither company is yet posting terribly impressive EV pickup numbers.
Progress for EV pickups, but not yet a game changer
For context, the Ford F-Series (F-150 plus Super Duty) sold 183,202 units in Q1, up 26% from the same period in 2024. Sales-wise, Cybertruck and Lightning are getting thoroughly trounced by Ford’s plucky Maverick, a proper success story and a much-needed comeback for compact pickups. The Lil’ Mav moved just over 38,000 units in Q1, matching in three months what its larger EV counterparts took an entire year to accomplish.
A better comp, however, is Rivian. The up-and-comer turned in a downer of a first quarter. Rivian sold just 8,640 vehicles and didn’t break out how many of those were the R1T pickup versus its R1S SUV sibling. It amounted to a 36% slide, as InsideEVs reported. If you’re keeping track at home, that means Ford is rounding back into form while its more logical rival is dealing with some issues — Rivian blamed the sales decline on the Los Angeles fires, among other factors.
Tesla is in trouble
In retrospect, the Cybertruck looks like a questionable product decision, if the goal was to take the pickup truck market by storm and conjoin Tesla’s rampant EV success with an electrified version of the vehicle that Americans most love to buy. The Model Y was the top-selling car in the entire world last year, while the Cybertruck hasn’t made much of a dent.
Despite being a great truck the F-150 Lightning hasn’t exactly lived up to the hype, either, but at least it’s improving on its position. And regardless of where the beleaguered EV market in the US is headed, Ford still needs an electric pickup in the lineup to hold market share and support its commercial fleet customers. The Lightning really ought to be number one, simply because Ford knows what it’s doing with pickups and doesn’t want to deal with any challenges to its dominance, particularly from a vehicle as screwy as the Cybertruck.
So expect the Q1 sales trend to continue, with Tesla possibly throwing in some massive discounts to keep the Cybertruck from fading further in 2025 — especially as it has tons of unsold Cybertrucks in inventory.
