Australian orders for Tesla Cybertruck cut off! Local timing for Ford F150 Lightning electric pick-up truck rival even more uncertain now as North America becomes the focus

Tesla has stopped taking orders for the Cybertruck outside of North America, leaving keen Australian buyers with uncertainty about the future of the all-electric pick-up.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the move at last week’s FT Future of the Car 2022 conference, according to Automotive News.

"We have more orders of the first Cybertrucks than we could possibly fulfil for three years after the start of production," Mr Musk said.

A quick look at Tesla's Australian website confirms that you can no longer put in an order for the futuristic looking pick-up.

Tesla revealed the Cybertruck EV in late 2019 with an expected rollout set for late 2021. But that never materialised and the Cybertruck, as well as the new Roadster and Tesla Semi, have all been delayed with production not likely to begin until next year.

A near-production-ready version of the Cybertruck was shown in early 2022 at the opening of its gigafactory, with Mr Musk saying at the time that 2022 would be “all about scaling up, and then next year there’s going to be a massive wave of new products”.

Some media reports have suggested that Tesla is already holding more than three million Cybertruck orders globally, but it is unclear how many Australians have put down a $150 deposit.

Given the possible production timing, it’s also unclear when those Australian customers with an initial order will actually take delivery of their Cybertruck. But at this stage it looks like it could be 2024 at the earliest.

At the Future of the Car event, Mr Musk also suggested that Tesla could stop taking orders for other models as demand well and truly exceeds production capacity "to a ridiculous degree”.

The Cybertruck will face competition from other electric pick-ups like the Ford F-150 Lightning, the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Hummer, Rivian R1T and RAM's upcoming electric pick-up truck.

Tesla Australia has been contacted for comment about timing for local Cybertruck deliveries.