Why are hundreds of Teslas parked outside a dying shopping mall? A local news station solved the mystery.

• Hundreds of Teslas are parked outside a mall in Missouri, including dozens of Cybertrucks.
• The mall is closing in October and Tesla needed space to hold excess vehicles. 
• Tesla had a decline in EV sales last quarter, which hit 90,000 lower than expected.

Chesterfield Mall, set to shut down in October, has become an unexpected parking lot for hundreds of Tesla vehicles over the last few months.

The Teslas, including Cybertrucks, parked outside of the Chesterfield, Missouri, shopping spot puzzled people passing by, especially as the number of EVs seemed to increase over time.

A couple of weeks ago, local news station KTVI solved the mystery.

According to the report, Tesla is storing unsold vehicles at the mall until it shuts down.

Michael Staenberg, the president of The Staenberg Group, which owns the Chesterfield Mall, confirmed with BI that dozens of Tesla Cybertrucks, along with brand new Tesla Model Ys and Model 3s in various colors, are stored in the lot outside the mall.

Staenberg said Tesla has occupied the space for about six or seven months and can stay until the mall closes in October. He said at least 90 groups are using space at the mall for different purposes before it closes.

"One of our users happens to be Tesla, who does have a dealership in the Valley, but does not have enough capacity at the dealership to park all of the cars they are bringing in," senior vice president of leasing and development at The Staenberg Group Tim Lowe, told KTVI. "So they are renting space within the parking lot to store their cars."

Tesla has a dealership about 2.5 miles away from Chesterfield Mall. Staenberg said 300 to 400 Teslas are stored in the parking lot.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Inventory lots aren't uncommon

Tesla isn't the only car brand to store its unsold vehicles outside a dealership.

Excess vehicles are often stored at factory lots close to manufacturing facilities, port facilities, distribution centers, transit compounds, and rail yards.

Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne stores vehicles before transporting them to dealers or other facilities. General Motors also has a centralized distribution facility in Grand Blanc, Michigan, where it replenishes inventory.

EV makers are struggling with oversupply

Electric vehicle sales across the industry have taken a hit as demand weakens — and Tesla is no exception. Over the past year, Tesla significantly lowered the prices of its EVs, which resulted in lower profits.

Cox Automotive previously said in August 2023, there were nearly twice as many EVs as gas cars sitting at dealer lots.

Around the same time, more EVs were being produced than ever before, forcing dealers to turn them down because inventory was piling up.

Tesla reported its first year-over-year decline in quarterly deliveries last quarter. The EV giant sold about 386,800 cars in the first quarter of 2024, which was about 90,000 fewer than investors expected.

That's 20.1% lower from the fourth quarter of 2023 and 8.4% down from a year ago. It also marked the company's lowest quarterly performance since 2022.

Tesla cited several reasons for a drop in deliveries, including challenges ramping up production of the new Model 3, an arson attack at its factory near Berlin, and supply-chain disruptions linked to the conflict near the Red Sea.