Numerous Teslas Parked at Empty Mall Lot

Local Service Center Struggles with Overflowing Inventory of Cybertrucks

Residents outside St. Louis are puzzled by the sight of hundreds of Tesla vehicles parked at a closed mall, prompting them to wonder, “What the hell are they doing there?”

Others have also noticed this trend. Twitter users have taken note of the significant amount of electric vehicles parked in the dealership, leading some to question if Tesla is experiencing a demand issue. Thankfully, a nearby news outlet has conducted an investigation and provided some insight into the matter.

According to preliminary findings, over 400 vehicles bearing the Tesla brand were spotted in the former Chesterfield Mall parking lot. Among them, there were reportedly 58 Cybertrucks. A local news station, upon covering the story, observed “dozens” of Cybertrucks interspersed with numerous other models.

It happens that there is a Tesla service center about three miles from the mall. The concept behind this is that the parking lot is serving as overflow for new cars being delivered at the nearest service center, which is approximately 2.5 miles away from the mall. This has led to the creation of a “Tesla farm at the old Sears.”

Hundreds of Tesla vehicles parked outside Chesterfield Mall. Why?

Tim Lowe, the senior VP of the Staenberg Group, which owns the mall, confirmed that “One of our users happens to be Tesla, who does have a dealership in the valley but does not have enough capacity to park all of the cars they are bringing in. So they are renting the space.”

Currently, the nearby service center can accommodate approximately 135 vehicles, which includes customer cars. The exact occupancy of the parking lot is unknown at this time, but looking at past satellite images reveals that it is typically more than half full with vehicles. Residents have observed that seeing Teslas parked at the closed mall is a regular occurrence, however, there has been a significant increase in the number of cars in the past few weeks. The sudden surge in Teslas being parked at the mall has raised questions among locals.

Employees at the nearby Service Center informed local media that their parking area was “not big enough to accommodate the increasing inventory.”

After Tesla released its initial quarterly financial results for 2024, there is speculation that the “inventory,” a term allegedly used by Tesla staff to refer to the cars in the parking lot, may be surplus vehicles that Tesla has not yet sold. Reports from Germany suggest that a nearby airport has been transformed into a storage site for potentially thousands of brand-new cars. If accurate, this could suggest that Tesla is facing a significant issue with demand.

Tesla’s current inventory levels are uncertain due to the company’s recent overhaul of its inventory system in North America. This update now permits the use of duplicate “dummy” VINs on the website, making it challenging to determine the exact number of vehicles in stock. Despite this, analysts believe that the inventory in North America is slightly higher, approximately 3.8% more than in the first quarter of 2024.

To support the theory of growing inventory, the car manufacturer recently reduced its workforce by more than 10%, which included factory workers, at its manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas. This is where both the Cybertruck and Model Y are assembled. Moreover, Tesla informed Cybertruck staff of shorter shifts, reducing production hours by about 10%.

During the previous quarter, Tesla overproduced 46,561 vehicles, which represents about 10.7% of its overall production. This is significantly higher than the excess of around 2% that Tesla experienced throughout 2023, with 2.1% in Q4, 2.8% in Q2, and 4% in Q1. Interestingly, Q3 saw more sales than vehicles actually produced.

Tesla has also cautioned investors about the prospect of “notably lower growth” in 2024, indicating a need to brace for a challenging year ahead in terms of new vehicle sales. This, combined with recent negative publicity surrounding layoffs and the announcement of a slowdown in Supercharger deployments, could potentially lead to even more disappointing figures than initially expected.

The Chesterfield Mall is scheduled to be demolished in the autumn. This could present a challenge for Tesla as they may need to address their demand issue by then, increase turnover of vehicles, or secure an alternative location for car storage. In the meantime, it is possible that cars will continue to accumulate in the open.