Tesla Cybertruck orders are now only open in North America

tesla cybertruck
(Image credit: Tesla)

The Tesla Cybertruck is set to be the next big thing over at Tesla HQ. Elon Musk’s passion project will send the automaker into the world of electric trucks, in the most outlandish-looking way imaginable. But it seems like you may have problems getting one if you live outside North America.

It’s no longer possible to reserve a Cybertruck in Europe or Asia, with the ‘Order Now’ button replaced with the option to sign up for updates. That means it’s only possible to order yourself a Cybertruck if you live in the U.S., Canada or Mexico.

The Cybertruck has, by all accounts, been an incredibly popular vehicle. It’s not clear whether people like the idea of a Tesla truck, or the wacky ‘90s-era polygonal design, but that doesn’t really matter. 

While we don’t have official figures on how many Cybertrucks have been pre-ordered, a crowdsourced tally of reservations suggests that there could be almost 1.5 million reservations. Elon Musk claims that there are enough reservations to cover the first three years of production.

And if you thought a 12+ month wait for a Tesla Model X was bad? Tesla’s SUV clearly has nothing on the Cybertruck.

We could speculate all day about why Tesla has closed reservations outside North America. The most likely explanation is that demand is quite high, and Tesla needed to cut both continents off to avoid things getting out of hand. 

However, it’s also worth mentioning that the Cybertruck was expected to arrive a little later outside of North America. That tends to happen with every Tesla model, but the unique design of the Cybertruck means there could be some regulatory hurdles to contend with. 

In fact, it’s been stated that the original design wasn’t street legal in Europe, on account of the truck’s rigid stainless steel shell. The fact it's so rigid and hard means the truck, as it was, didn’t mean European pedestrian and cyclist safety standards. While the design of the Cybertruck has gone through some changes over the past couple of years, it’s not clear how many of those changes relate to European safety specs.

But unless we start hearing about Tesla cancelling European pre-orders, we should assume that the truck is still coming. We just don’t know exactly when.

Production on the Cybertruck is currently slated to begin in early 2023, assuming there aren’t any more delays waiting around the corner. Elon Musk claims that the truck will arrive sometime in 2023, but hasn’t offered a more specific delivery window.

Read next: The Tesla Cybertruck could arrive in mid-2023, according to Elon Musk

Tom Pritchard
UK Phones Editor

Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.