Tesla Courts Fleet Buyers for Cybercab Network — SkimNews
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- Tesla began circulating an interest form to fleet buyers at its September 3 Cybercab event, asking companies to purchase Cybercabs and operate them on Tesla's Robotaxi network under a revenue-split arrangement.
- Elon Musk made the same pitch at Autonomy Day in 2019, promising owners up to $30,000 per year in gross profit per vehicle via the "Tesla Network" — a program that never launched for individual owners.
- Tesla owners paid up to $15,000 for FSD on the promise of taxi income, yet years later not one of them can run their car as a robotaxi because Tesla runs the service itself.
- MisterGreen, a Dutch leasing firm, bought more than 4,000 Teslas betting on robotaxi income and appreciating asset value, then went bankrupt in December 2025 after used Teslas depreciated at roughly 3x the broader used-car market rate, wiping out bondholders with $40 million in losses.
- Electrek argues the pitch shifts capital cost and depreciation onto fleet buyers while Tesla keeps the high-margin software and network cut — and would compete against those same buyers on its own platform.
Why it matters: Fleet buyers would absorb vehicle capex and depreciation while Tesla retains software margins and network fees, and could undercut or deprioritize those same buyers on its own platform. MisterGreen's December 2025 bankruptcy — which cost bondholders $40 million after Tesla slashed new-car prices for two years — is the freshest evidence of how the "appreciating asset" promise plays out when the robotaxi revenue never materializes.
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