Elon Musk has denied that the U.S. government will purchase $400m worth of Tesla Cybertrucks.
The billionaire jumped on X to deny the allegations, as it was widely reported on Wednesday that the Trump administration intended to spend $400m on “armored” Tesla electric vehicles in one of the State Department’s biggest contracts of 2025.
“I’m pretty sure Tesla isn’t getting $400M. No one mentioned it to me, at least,” he swiped in a comeback to a user who highlighted the jargon in the government’s procurement forecast for 2025 had switched within hours from initially showing as “Tesla” to “Armored Electric vehicles.”
The news that the word “Tesla” vanished came on Wednesday following reports from Drop Site News and The New York Times.
In the December version of the document, the item was mentioned as an “Armored Tesla.” At the time of writing, the company is no longer named.
The Independent previously reported that Elon Musk spent more than $250m on political donations to help Donald Trump retake the White House this year.
However, Musk’s half-hearted response left room for speculation as while he denied Tesla would receive $400m, he failed to deny outright that his company would receive anything at all.
In the procurement document, the listing for “Armored Electric Vehicles” is named as a new requirement under a five-year contract at an estimated cost of between $100m and $500m.
The omission emerged as the world’s richest man, Musk, was found to still be receiving multi-million dollar contract payouts from the U.S. government for his rocket company, SpaceX, while his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team promises to gut government spending.
Jared Holt, a senior researcher at London’s Institute for Strategic Dialogue, stated: “Musk convinced MAGA he's fighting to save their precious taxpayer dollars. Meanwhile, he's teed up to win a $400 million contract making armored Tesla cars for the State Department. No talk of cutting that one, oddly enough!”
A New York Times analysis noted on Wednesday that Trump and Musk are hunting for corruption “very selectively,” while the president “is rolling back anticorruption efforts and ethical standards for himself and allies like Elon Musk.”
The Independent contacted the State Department and Tesla for comment.
