Yahoo News Fact Check: Tesla Made More Cars Than It Sold in Q1 2024, Some of Which Were Visible from Space
Claim:
As of the end of the first quarter of 2024, nearly 50,000 unsold Tesla vehicles were sitting in parking lots across the U.S. and visible from space.
Rating:
What's True:
Tesla produced almost 50,000 more vehicles in the first quarter of 2024 than it delivered to customers. At least some of these unsold vehicles were visible from space, as seen in reports and images from the time. Subsequent financial reports indicated the overstock was likely reduced by some amount over the course of the year.
What's Undetermined:
We have not been able to determine whether all the nearly 50,000 unsold vehicles from the first quarter of 2024 were located in the U.S. (for example, we found reports of unsold Teslas being stored in Germany).
In December 2024, a claim circulated on Facebook (archive) and X (archive) that nearly 50,000 unsold Tesla vehicles were sitting in parking lots across the U.S., with the large number of vehicles visible from space.
The full post read:
The unsold inventory of Elon Musk's Tesla is so large, it is now visible from space:
Reports indicate that there are nearly 50,000 Teslas sitting in parking lots across the USA alone — so many, they can be spotted from space.
Using satellite imagery, sources like Sherwood News discovered Tesla's Texas Gigafactory lots went from partially filled in late 2023 to overflowing by March 2024.
Additional storage locations, including vacant malls and parking lots, are also being filled to capacity.
Tesla reported building 433,371 vehicles in the first quarter of 2024 but only selling 386,810, leaving tens of thousands of excess units.This surplus reflects a slowing EV market and Tesla's price cuts failing to entice buyers. Satellite images reveal hundreds of Teslas packed outside places like Chesterfield Mall in St. Louis and former retail spaces like Sears in Moreno Valley, California. While Tesla maintains optimism about reversing this inventory buildup, the growing visibility of its unsold vehicles raises questions about the long-term demand for its once-dominant brand.
The claim of nearly 50,000 surplus vehicles was first spotted in reporting from Sherwood in June 2024, though earlier reporting on overproduction of Teslas stemmed from the company's own Q1 (first quarter) numbers, released in April 2024.
Tesla said it produced a total of 433,371 vehicles and delivered 386,810 in this period, meaning 46,561 cars were produced but not delivered to customers.
However, though the claim of "nearly 50,000 unsold vehicles" was true and some of them could be seen in satellite imagery, Snopes found no evidence that all the surplus vehicles were located in the U.S., nor were we able to account for every single vehicle. Therefore, we rate this claim a mixture of true and undetermined.
Teslas Visible from Space in the US — But Not All 50,000 of Them
In June 2024, financial news site Sherwood published an article with the subtitle "Tesla's unsold inventory is creating stockpiles you can see from space".
The article included satellite imagery from earth observation marketplace SkyFi, showing an increase in vehicles at two sites: the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, and the Chesterfield Mall near St Louis, Missouri.
Sherwood cited a "production lead at the gigafactory who was recently laid off" as saying the increase in cars seen in Austin was "finished Teslas before they're shipped off."
Previous reporting confirmed that the cars in St. Louis were overspill from a local Tesla dealership, as stated by the mall's owner.
However, the article did not account for anywhere near 50,000 vehicles, giving only parking lot capacity numbers for Austin and numbers in the hundreds for St. Louis. While the article did include satellite imagery, this did not show 50,000 cars.
Snopes has reached out to Tesla to confirm whether unsold cars were held at its factory in Austin or the Chesterfield Mall near St. Louis.
Reports of Unsold Teslas from Outside US
In addition to reports of unsold inventory in the U.S., Snopes found similar reports from abroad.
In May 2024, German newspaper B.Z. published an article titled (translated): "Tesla's secret warehouse of unsold electric cars."
B.Z. reported that Teslas were being transported from the company's factory in Grünheide, on the outskirts of Berlin, to a former airfield in Neuhardenberg in such numbers that local traffic was affected. A resident on the route from Grünheide to Neuhardenberg told B.Z. he had counted 40 transporters loaded with Teslas in a single hour.
German tabloid Bild estimated that up to 5,000 Teslas were stored at Neuhardenberg in July, 2024.
Overproduction Largely Stopped Later in 2024
Our research established that the claim stemmed from Tesla's own Q1 2024 numbers.
However, separate numbers regarding production and delivery were subsequently issued for Q2 and Q3 that show overproduction was stemmed in those quarters.
For example, in Q2, Tesla's figures showed that more cars were delivered than produced, potentially helping to offset backlog from Q1.
Sources:
Al-Ghaili, Hashem. "The Unsold Inventory of Elon Musk's Tesla Is so Large, It Is Now Visible from Space:" Facebook, Meta, 9 Dec. 2024, https://www.facebook.com/ScienceNaturePage/posts/pfbid02SNKG74zARaJesqmLHV8VMBputjXZMJZbDQPpxQ4SzbNN16Eu5R7LrzLWSJufr44El.
@Red___One__. "When the Government Pays You to Make EVs You Can't Sell... 50,000 Teslas Sitting in Parking Lots across the USA Alone — so Many, They Can Be Spotted from Space." X, X, 9 Dec. 2024, https://x.com/Red___One__/status/1866128883952620021.
Sauerbier, Michael. "Teslas geheimes Lager der unverkauften E-Autos." B.Z., B.Z., 8 May 2024, https://www.bz-berlin.de/brandenburg/teslas-geheimes-lager-e-autos.
Schneider, Joey. "Hundreds of Tesla Vehicles Parked Outside Chesterfield Mall. Why?" Fox2Now, Fox, 1 May 2024, https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/hundreds-of-tesla-vehicles-parked-outside-chesterfield-mall-why/.
Tesla. "Tesla Third Quarter 2024 Production, Deliveries & Deployments." Tesla, Tesla, 2 Oct. 2024, https://ir.tesla.com/press-release/tesla-third-quarter-2024-production-deliveries-and-deployments.
---. "Tesla Vehicle Production & Deliveries and Date for Financial Results & Webcast for First Quarter 2024." Tesla, Tesla, 2 Apr. 2024, https://ir.tesla.com/press-release/tesla-vehicle-production-deliveries-and-date-financial-results-webcast-first-quarter-2024.
---. "Tesla Vehicle Production & Deliveries and Date for Financial Results & Webcast for Second Quarter 2024." Tesla, Tesla, 2 July 2024, https://ir.tesla.com/press-release/tesla-vehicle-production-deliveries-and-date-financial-results-webcast-second-quarter-2024.
"Tesla – Tausende Fahrzeuge bleiben im Lager bei Berlin." bild.de, Bild, 29 July 2024, https://www.bild.de/news/inland/deutsche-e-auto-krise-tausende-fahrzeuge-im-teslager-bei-berlin-66a391bef6bff72b488f7a00.
"Tesla's Q1 Numbers Were Way Worse Than Expected." Jalopnik, 2 Apr. 2024, https://jalopnik.com/teslas-q1-numbers-were-way-worse-than-expected-1851381804.
"Tesla's Unsold Inventory Is Creating Stockpiles You Can See from Space." Sherwood News, https://sherwood.news/business/elon-musk-tesla-extra-inventory-satellite-imagery/.
Updates:
Dec. 11, 2024: The rating of this report was changed from "False" to "Mixture" based on a review of the evidence.
