Tesla’s Cybertruck sales dropped significantly in recent quarters, leading to a rapid buildup of unsold inventory. And it looks like the company is resorting to unconventional storage sites for the excess vehicles.
One such location, per Crains Detroit Business, is a Detroit shopping center that is now in violation of city code for storing dozens of Cybertrucks and other unsold Teslas in its parking lot.
No doubt the parking lot looks like a dystopian graveyard with rows upon rows of shiny silver Cybertrucks taking up space where shoppers once came to visit the now-closed Bed, Bath and Beyond and Torrid. The Buffalo Wild Wings in the shopping center, though, is still open.
The lot is near a new Tesla showroom in West Bloomfield, which may account for the overflow. Crain’s reports that the shopping center landlord has been informed of the violation, but enforcement could take some time.
While still outselling other electric trucks, Tesla’s Cybertruck has underperformed CEO Elon Musk’s hopes for its success after eight recalls within a year and the automaker’s brand devaluation due to Musk’s political involvement.
Tesla Cybertruck pushes past Ford Mach-E to become third best-selling EV in America
Tesla’s Cybertruck was the third best-selling electric vehicle in the United States in the third quarter, beating out every other EV not made by Tesla. The only two vehicles that sold better were the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV.
The polarizing truck notched this achievement despite selling at its most expensive trim model in the early going. It’s also a sign of just how much trouble major automakers like Ford and General Motors have run into in finding customers for their own EVs.
Automotive research firm Kelley Blue Book pegged Tesla’s Cybertruck sales as third-best last week, notching over 16,000 sales.
Ford only sold around 7,000 F-150 Lightnings in the third quarter, and just over 13,000 Mustang Mach-E SUVs, according to sales data from the automaker. GM has seemingly found some early success with its new Blazer and Equinox EVs, but still only sold around 32,000 electric vehicles total last quarter. Rivian only delivered around 3,800 of its own electric pickup.
Tesla confirmed the third-best accomplishment Wednesday when it released its financial results for the third quarter. Tesla also noted that the Cybertruck generated a positive gross margin — a measure of profitability that is calculated by subtracting the cost of goods sold from revenue.
Tesla also revealed it generated $25.2 billion in sales during the quarter and notched a $2.2 billion profit. Tesla’s profit was boosted by $739 million in sales of regulatory credits to other automakers — the second-highest amount it’s ever sold in a quarter, behind the second quarter of this year when it sold $890 million worth.
Tesla said its profits were also boosted by the fact that it started shipping its Actually Smart Summon feature and its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software to Cybertruck owners, which allowed the company to recognize some of the money owners paid up front as revenue.
Tesla’s relentless cost-cutting also plays into its profit figure. Tesla said in the shareholder letter that the cost of goods sold per vehicle is down to $35,100.
