Unpaid Parking

Tesla’s massive pileup

Bronson Stamp

Tesla's unsold inventory is creating stockpiles you can see from space

Where have all the Teslas gone? Stored in parking lots, every one.

6/6/24 1:04PM

Last quarter, Tesla produced 433,371 autos. It delivered just 386,810, meaning there were about 47,000 extra Teslas around, more than double what it was a year ago and the company’s biggest imbalance to date.

This surplus is happening as the electric car company deals with a number of headwinds, including slowing electric vehicle sales growth, growing competition, and chaotic leadership.

“The primary driver of this was an increase in inventory from a mismatch between builds,” Tesla Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said of the company’s -$2.5 billion in free cash flow (spending on AI compute was also to blame). “We expect the inventory built to reverse in the second quarter and free cash flow to return to positive again.”

Until then, we wondered: Where have all the unsold Teslas gone?

I used satellite imagery and object detection analytics from the earth observation marketplace SkyFi, to take a look at some images of Tesla’s Gigafactory outside Austin, Texas. Comparing a Thursday from last October to a Thursday in March, you can see that the parking lots outlined in green in the images below became much more full.

Tesla Gigafactory in Austin, Texas. Top: October 2023. Bottom: March 2024.

A production lead at the gigafactory who was recently laid off along with more than 10% of Tesla’s workforce told Sherwood those parking lots hold finished Teslas before they’re shipped off.

Tesla does store inventory in the other parking lots but those are primarily for employees and contractors. We were unable to discern if extra Teslas are being parked in those, too. Tesla did not respond to questions about the images or requests for comment on this story.

SkyFi also shared satellite imagery of Chesterfield Mall, a soon-to-be-demolished mall west of St. Louis, where Jalopnik previously reported Tesla has been storing excess inventory.

Chesterfield mall Teslas — Chesterfield Mall outside St. Louis. Top: October 2022. Bottom: May 2024

The firm counted 465 Teslas parked there in May, bringing in much-needed revenue for the doomed mall, where before there had been none.

We were unable to get comparable satellite imagery of Tesla’s Fremont factory but a series of drone videos by a YouTuber show what look to be increasingly cramped lots across the property. Here’s a flyover from last week:

People have reported Tesla stock taking up space at a mall nearby the factory as well as in parking lots and airports around the world. Just this week, a local news network in Australia showed aerial footage of a “Tesla graveyard,” a port in Melbourne where “thousands” of unsold Teslas are piling up.

Of course, some of these Teslas could be en route to happy owners. But the mass of them piling up is getting harder to ignore.

Tom Jones4h

Domino’s just announced its first rebrand in 13 years — maybe a new, “doughier” font will help sales pick up

Shaboozey! Domino’s Sans! Hotter colors as a nod to the melty heat of a pizza pulled fresh from the oven!

In a buzzword-laden justification of its rebrand yesterday, Domino’s laid plain its new aesthetic direction, coined the term “cravemark,” and announced it would be bringing the focus back to its food, having (at least in its executive vice president’s words) become known as “a technology company that happens to sell pizza” over the last decade.

It can’t go any worse than Cracker Barrel’s refresh efforts, at least...

The raft of changes, which will roll out across the US and other international markets in the coming months, includes a new “audio and visual expression” of the brand’s name (throwing a few extra M’s on the boxes and getting country/hip-hop artist Shaboozey to elongate the letter in a jingle); brighter packaging and hotter colors; “more youthful” team uniforms (company-color Salomons and an apron with “pizza is brat” on it, maybe?); and a new “Domino’s Sans” font, which is “thicker and doughier” and has circles and semicircles “in nod [sic] to pizza, with personality baked right in.”

Domino’s is down about 2% so far this year.

Domino's® New Craveable Brand Refresh Makes You Say "Mmm" | Domino's Pizza

Domino’s is down about 2% so far this year.

Claire Yubin Oh7h

Ferrari sinks after unveiling first electric car; 2030 strategic plan and guidance underwhelms investors after halving its EV target

Ferrari is 14% in the red in premarket trading after unveiling its first electric car, while simultaneously scaling back its electrification plans to focus on its petrol and hybrid lineup until 2030.

In an event at its headquarters in northern Italy, the company lifted the hood on its new, production-ready “Elettrica” model, finally offering a glimpse into the iconic carmaker’s progress on its EV plan, which was announced back in 2022. The Elettrica is due to be delivered from late 2026, per the company’s 2030 strategic plan.

Still, as Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna was keen to emphasize, “The EV is an addition, not a transition,” suggesting that the new electric model will complement, not replace, the company’s existing lineup.

In the carmaker’s 2030 plan, released later in the day, Ferrari disclosed that it aims for a lineup made up of 40% internal combustion engine models, 40% hybrids, and 20% fully electric cars by 2030 — dialing down its 2022 ambitions for electrification, when the targets for EVs and ICE models were flipped.

Though Ferrari has ramped up its hybrid production since 2022, shipments have plateaued in recent quarters.

Ferrari hybrid vs petrol engine — Sherwood News

Delta Airlines Withdraws 2025 Guidance Citing Tariff Disruptions

Delta climbs after beating on both sales and profit, forecasts a strong end to 2025

It’s been a turbulent ride for Delta this year, but shares are rising in early trading on Thursday.

Max Knoblauch8h

Max Knoblauch10/8/25

After upsetting GOP senators, GM scraps its EV tax credit extension plan

Roughly a week after it was first reported, GM’s plan to extend the now expired $7,500 US federal EV tax credit to customers through a leasing program is no more.

Last week, Republican Senators Bernie Moreno (Ohio) and John Barrasso (Wyoming) wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urging him to change the IRS rule that they said allowed automakers to game the law that ended the tax credit, “bilking” taxpayers.

Automakers GM and Ford, which each saw juiced-up EV sales ahead of the tax credit’s expiration, sought to extend the subsidy by using their financial arms to put down payments on electric vehicles already on their dealers’ lots. Those payments would qualify for the credit prior to its expiration, and the automakers would pass the savings along to lessees for several more months.

GM will now instead fund the incentive through the end of October without claiming the tax credit, Reuters reports.

Ford did not respond to a request for comment on whether it will similarly scrap its plans.

Exclusive: GM backtracks on plan to claim last-minute EV tax credits