There was great fanfare when deliveries of the Tesla Cybertruck finally began in earnest in late 2023. Influencers and die-hard fans fought for the first trucks off the line, while flippers made out big by reselling in the early days. However, it appears demand may have cooled significantly based on new photos out of Texas.
These photos come to us from Zerin Dube, auto writer and photographer extraordinaire. He regularly finds himself passing Tesla’s delivery center down in Houston, and he’s spotted something odd of late. For some reason, there are a ton of Cybertrucks just sitting around—and the mass seems to be growing at a rapid rate.
We’re not just talking about a parking lot full of trucks that are waiting for eager buyers. The Cybertrucks long ago spilled over onto the surrounding bare land. Some have been sitting long enough that they have grass growing up around the tires. It begs the question—why is Tesla storing its prime stock in this way?
CTRL+C, CTRL+V pic.twitter.com/jlHXDVkYem
— Zerin Dube (@SpeedSportLife) August 11, 2024
Tesla doesn’t have a PR department anymore, but we like to do our due diligence. Thus, we sent a note to their last valid PR email address asking them for comment on the matter anyway. We don’t expect a response, given Elon Musk shut the department down in 2020, so that leaves us to speculate. Absent any standing recall or technical issue with the vehicles, it simply suggests Tesla’s production has outstripped demand.
Zerin’s take is very much along the same lines. “I reckon all those people who ordered aren’t taking delivery when push comes to shove,” says Zerin. He notes that it only cost $100 to get on Tesla’s list until December 2023, when the price jumped to $1000. “How many ordered for the lulz?” he asks.
Tesla recently stopped taking orders for the cheaper, and as-of-yet unreleased $61,000 version with a 250-mile range that’s scheduled to be delivered in 2025. A recent report from Reuters suggests that demand for the more expensive models is waning:
“It shows that demand is a lot less than a million trucks,” Guidehouse Insights analyst Sam Abuelsamid told Reuters.
[…]
“They’re sitting on a lot of inventory of two-motor and three-motor trucks right now,” Abuelsamid said.
While models can pile up for various reasons (Ford had to hold a bunch of new F-150s to do quality checks recently), it’s always a bad look for an automaker when a major new model is seen piling up in parking lots. It’s another thing entirely when they’re dumped in great numbers on grass because there simply isn’t anywhere else to put them.
The Cybertruck isn’t the only Tesla model with excess inventory piling up. As can be seen in the video below from July, the parking lot is full of Tesla sedans and SUVs, too. Perhaps it’s simply that Cybertrucks are the easiest to store off pavement. Alternatively, they might just be the most recent vehicles trucked into the already-full parking lot.
Every time I drive by there’s more and more CyberTrucks piling up. Some have grass growing up the tires lol pic.twitter.com/opCZMbXlRZ
— Zerin Dube (@SpeedSportLife) July 16, 2024
Word on the street is that this isn’t just happening in Texas. In June, a user named benzblogger posted footage from Atlanta, Georgia showing huge numbers of Teslas parked by a distribution center at a local mall. As she filmed, a car carrier rolled in hauling four additional Cybertrucks into the lot. Around the same time, Road & Track reported that “dozens” of Cybertrucks had been vandalized in an unattended lot in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. There were no surveillance cameras in the area.
Meanwhile, others have reported similar scenes at other Tesla locations. Twitter users have noted Tesla stock, particularly Cybertrucks, building up in parking lots at Tesla Collision Houston and Tesla League City, both in Texas.
@benzblogger am I wrong? #tesla #cybertruck #EV #gwinnett #ATL #newcars #cartok
♬ Clown, wonder, fairy tale, clown waltz(1326760) – kaedemusics
Tesla’s unsold inventory made the news earlier this year, with some outlets even noting you could spot the cars “from space.” That’s not particularly hard with modern satellite imaging, but the articles all revealed huge amounts of inventory that was seemingly languishing without buyers.
Still, not every Tesla facility is bursting at the seams with excess product. Back in May, Tesla Fremont had cars squeezed into every last bit of available space, with hundreds overflowing onto grassed areas. A drone overflight in early August, however, showed the factory’s lots to be far emptier by comparison. It suggests that the California factory may have slowed output in response to slower sales for the brand.
Tesla’s Fremont factory is one facility that is looking less overstocked in recent months.
The overstock problem isn’t just limited to the US. In Germany, Tesla has rented an entire airport to store overflow stock. In Australia, parking lots at Port Melbourne are overflowing with Teslas that simply aren’t moving. It follows a 44% slump for Tesla’s Australian sales in April.
Automakers generally try to keep production levels fairly close to expected demand, but it’s not a perfect science. Production lines only work in a cost sense if they’re kept running to a certain degree, and there’s a lag in how responsive they can be to market changes. Plus, once a glut of product builds up, it can take time to shift. Dealerships can help in this regard, with astute dealers able to run discount programs and cut deals to move product. Tesla has to do all that by itself, operating out of mall parking lots across the country.
The former German military airbase is overflowing with Teslas of all kinds.
Ultimately, automakers don’t want stock sitting around. Cars that sit don’t make money, they cost money. It’s all the more shocking that Tesla is having this problem with the Cybertruck. It was a heavily-hyped vehicle that was long-awaited by the brand’s diehard fans, with reports of reservations well into the seven-figure range.
After less than a year on sale, we’re seeing Cybertrucks en masse, but not on the road. They’re sitting around outside Tesla distribution centers and on grass verges in Texas, presumably waiting for someone, anyone, to take them home. Back in February, scoring a scalped Cybertruck might have cost you over $240,000. Now it appears there are plenty to spare.
Image credits: Zerin Dube
Top graphic Elon Musk image via YouTube
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