Tesla is renting out shopping centre car parks to store unsold models as the electric carmaker faces flagging consumer demand and growing competition from cheaper Chinese competitors.
First-quarter sales figures released by Tesla last month revealed it produced 433,371 vehicles in the first three months of 2024 but delivered 386,810 — a whopping 8.5 per cent decline compared with the same period last year.
In the first three months of 2023, Tesla produced 440,808 vehicles and delivered 422,875, a difference of 17,993. In the first three months of 2024, Tesla produced 46,561 more vehicles than it delivered.
April car sales data from Australia showed a similar decline for the once-dominant brand as hybrid and plug-in hybrid demand outpaced EVs.
EV sales were down 5.1 per cent compared with April 2023 to 6194 sales, according to VFACTS, led by a massive 43.5 per cent year-on-year drop in Tesla sales to 2077 vehicles.
Despite reporting a 55 per cent drop in quarterly earnings to $US1.1 billion, reflecting the decline in EV sales, and announcing a massive round of lay-offs, the troubled carmaker shows no signs of slowing down its assembly lines.
