In Bavaria, near Munich, a scene straight out of a sci‑fi movie captured motorists’ attention: in front of the Hohenbrunn highway police station stood a massive electric pickup with angular lines—a Tesla Cybertruck—a vehicle that isn’t approved for road use at all in Germany. This futuristic model hadn’t parked there on its own; it had been pulled over the previous night on the A99 near Vaterstetten because its driver simply did not have the right to operate it.
According to the Hohenbrunn Verkehrspolizeiinspektion, the driver was a 50‑year‑old Swedish man. He did not hold the license category required for a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,200 kg, i.e., 4.2 tons. The officers barred him from continuing his journey, and the pickup, registered in Poland, was escorted to the Hohenbrunn station. There, it awaits pickup by someone with the proper license category; the date for the retrieval was not specified. The matter was made public on October 25, 2026 by the local German press.
A Tesla Cybertruck Classified Under the Small Heavy‑Duty Vehicle Category
In this case, everything hinges on the Cybertruck’s gross vehicle weight rating. For licensing purposes, the GVWR matters: with a Class B license, people can generally drive vehicles up to 3.5 tons. But the Cybertruck inspected exceeded that threshold with a maximum authorized weight of 4.2 tons. This figure refers to the vehicle’s total permissible weight, including cargo and passengers, and not the actual weight at the moment of the stop, which changes the vehicle’s classification for licensing.
The standard Class B car license obviously wasn’t enough. To legally take the wheel of this electric pickup in its current configuration, you must hold a Category C1 license, reserved for light trucks and heavy-duty utility vehicles. This reminder came from an Autobahnpolizei Hohenbrunn officer: “For the Cybertruck, Class C1 for light heavy vehicles is required,” the officer told Merkur. The pickup now has to be retrieved at the station by a driver with that C1 license, giving this stop a notably unusual turn of events.
A Rare Electric Giant on German Roads
The vehicle in question carries a Polish registration. In Germany, the Tesla Cybertruck does not enjoy any regular type approval, which means it cannot be registered through the standard process. Among the obstacles cited to obtaining such approval are its stainless steel, sharply defined edges, and the European pedestrian-protection requirements. With its sharply angular silhouette, this electric pickup also stands out for its size: it measures roughly 5.68 meters in length and about 2.41 meters in width, mirrors included. According to the manufacturer, its curb weight is around 3,100 kg, its body is stainless steel, and the cabin seats five people.
A few examples with plates issued by other European Union countries do circulate on the continent, though very rarely in Germany. The Cybertruck was first shown in the country in May 2024, notably at the Tesla Center in Parsdorf, near Munich. Tesla began production of this model in 2023, and the first vehicles were delivered in the United States by the end of November of the same year. Seeing a Tesla Cybertruck pulled over at a Bavarian police station over questions of licensing category and gross vehicle weight illustrates just how much this American‑made machine challenges the conventional framework for passenger vehicles in Europe.
