Tesla Gives Cybertuck Buyers Huge Discounts And Perks Just To Take The Slow-Selling Trucks Off The Lot

Good morning! It’s Friday, April 18, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you’ll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning’s edition of TMS, we’re looking at just how desperate Tesla is to sell Cybertruck and Toyota’s potential plans to change up RAV4 production. We’re also talking about how Mazda is pausing CX-50 production on cars destined for Canada as well as what ex-Stellatnis CEO Carlos Tavares has been up to since leaving the automaker.

It’s Friday, you guys. Let’s have a good one.

In an egregiously desperate move to encourage prospective Cybertruck buyers to pull the trigger, some folks are being offered massive discounts and perks, like free lifetime access to Supercharging and so-called Full Self-Driving. It’s not exactly a shocking move. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said it had over 1 million reservations for the truck, and it sure looks like it only converted about 50,000 of those to actual sales. That is abysmal.

If you are feeling stupid and brave, you can get an $11,990 discount on leftover 2024 Cyberbeast Foundation Series trucks, and Tesla will throw in free lifetime access to its Supercharger network just for kicks. The top-of-the-line truck isn’t the only one getting discounted, either. Standard 2024 AWD Cybertrucks are getting similar price cuts — bringing the selling price down to $89,990. Don’t worry, the car still comes with free lifetime Supercharging, and some folks will even get free Full Self-Driving if you’re enough of a daredevil to use it. From CarScoops:

Granted, you’re getting a 2024 model while we’re already well into 2025, but Tesla isn’t a conventional automaker. There are no dramatic, huge updates from one year to the next. According to DriveTeslaCanada, Canadian buyers can also take advantage of similar deals. Tesla is currently offering CA $16,590 off the Cyberbeast and CA $13,790 off the AWD Cybertruck in Canada.

[…]

At the time of writing, Tesla lists just under 4,500 Cybertrucks in inventory across the United States, including both new and demo units.

If you’re the type of person who wants a Cybertruck (gross) but has been waiting for them to get about 10 to 15% cheaper, then I guess this is a good deal for you. For everyone else, we can gawk at just how badly Tesla and Musk overestimated demand for an ugly, half-assed truck that has become a divisive symbol in ways that few other vehicles can even dream of achieving.

To get around President Trump’s tariff debacle, Toyota is apparently considering producing the next generation of the RAV4 in the United States. It’s the latest automaker to rethink its global supply chain to lessen the impact of Trump’s tariffs on imported vehicles.

Right now, Toyota makes the current version of one of the best-selling vehicles in America in Kentucky, Canada and Japan. Its original plans were to export the next-gen RAV4 to the U.S. from Canada and Japan, but the automaker is now reportedly considering Kentucky as a production option. This is all according to three people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. From Reuters:

Adding supply from the United States would also lessen the impact for the Japanese automaker from President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on imported cars and avoid potentially higher costs in cases of fluctuations in the volatile yen currency, two of the people said.

[…]

Toyota has yet to finalise its production plans, the people said. Any production changes cannot be implemented quickly and require long-term planning, one of them said, due to the time-consuming and capital-intensive work involved in retooling manufacturing facilities and adjusting supply chains.

If the automaker goes ahead with the Kentucky plan, it would probably start production there in 2027, one of the people said. Regardless of the outcome with Kentucky, Toyota’s overall vehicle output in Canada is likely to be maintained, the people said.

It’s not exactly clear how many of the new RAV4 Toyota plans to make in the U.S. It currently has 11 plans across the country, and it built nearly 1.3 million vehicles in the U.S. That works out to more than half of the 2.3 million cars it sold here overall. The RAV4 made up about 475,000 of those sales.

Toyota is planning to unveil an all-new version of the RAV4 in 2024, and it really needs it. The fourth-generation RAV4 has been on sale since the 2013 model year. It’s time for an update.

Mazda is hitting the brakes on production for cars headed to Canada from its Alabama plant as a temporary fix for President Trump’s tariffs. If you’re in the U.S. and hankering for a CX-50, don’t worry. Production of those cars will continue. From Bloomberg:

Trump’s 25% tariffs on imported cars and parts, along with Canada’s retaliatory duties, have forced Mazda and other foreign brands to walk a fine line by balancing short-term relief with long-term consequences. Japanese carmakers are particularly exposed to US border controls, given the size and importance of the market to them.

This is certain to hurt Mazda’s bottom line in Canada. The CX-50 accounted for about 15 percent of the 72,000-ish passenger vehicles sold in Canada last year.

Earlier this week, Trump mentioned that he might temporarily pause auto industry tariffs, but he didn’t say how long any theoretical pause would be. Back at the end of last month, the President announced a 25% auto tariff that was set to take place on April 3. It would be followed in 30 days by tariffs on automotive parts.

Ex-Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares is on to better and brighter things after his unceremonious exit from the Transatlantic automaker last December. He’s got over $40 million in salary and severance payments to make his every dream come true. However, instead of just chilling out, Tavares says he is going to “dedicate my energy to my Portuguese businesses using what I have learned during this intense professional life.” Go with God, bro. From Bloomberg:

The 66-year-old left Stellantis in December after presiding over slumping sales and profit due to an aging portfolio in the US and model delays in Europe. His stringent cost-cutting course led to clashes with politicians, dealers and unions. The automaker is still looking for his successor, and is projecting only lackluster profitability for 2025.

Stellantis shareholders on Tuesday still backed his pay package totaling €35.1 million ($39.9 million). It consisted of a €23.1 million salary for 2024, plus €12 million in severance and milestone bonus payments for this year.

Tavares told Portuguese television in February that he’s looking to play a role in the planned privatization of state-owned airline TAP Air Portugal after being encouraged to do so by friends. He’s also part of a consortium bidding for a stake in Portuguese regional carrier SATA Azores Airlines.

Just to get his vibes right, Tavares has also apparently been working at one of his farms in central Portugal and a vineyard in the Douro region of the country. That’s where he’s producing his first port wine. I love seeing a dude with hobbies, I’ll tell you what.

I don’t care what any of you say — “Friday” is a certified banger, and it should be treated as such. It’s an icon of early 2010s culture, and the fact Rebecca Black has completely owned it is so fun to see.