Tesla, the American electric vehicle company led by Elon Musk, reported disappointing performance in the first quarter, falling short of market expectations. Tesla’s stock surged last December when Donald Trump was re-elected president. There was growing anticipation that Elon Musk, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tesla, would benefit from various policy advantages as he emerged as a key figure after being appointed as the Minister of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
However, dissatisfaction with the tariff policy of the Trump administration, unilateral forecast cuts, and government restructuring policies is spreading, leading to headwinds for Tesla electric vehicle sales. Reflecting this, recent satellite images captured a notable increase in electric vehicles waiting in inventory at the Tesla production site in Texas, USA.
On the 30th, the satellite imaging service company Naraspace released an analysis of Tesla’s outdoor parking lot at ‘Giga Texas’ located in the outskirts of Austin, Texas.
Opened at the end of 2021, this facility serves as a large-scale production site adjacent to Tesla’s headquarters and functions as a hub for new business ventures, encompassing the assembly and testing of next-generation robo-taxis (Cybercab) and the production of energy storage devices like Megapacks. Currently, Model Y electric vehicles and Cybertrucks are being produced here.
Giga Texas has been expanding since construction began in 2020. Results from a satellite image utilizing the European Space Agency (ESA) operated Earth observation satellite Sentinel-2 and the Pleiades Neo satellite show that the construction of the western parking lot for deliveries was completed last December. The image also captured a newly established charging area for electric vehicles awaiting delivery after production was finished.
Tesla parks finished vehicles in a separate parking area at the factory before delivery. At Giga Texas, they use the parking lot west of the vehicle delivery building and the employee parking lot east of the main building.
The analysis team divided this area into ‘Detection Area 1’ and ‘Detection Area 2’ to identify the number and type of vehicles waiting for delivery after being produced at the factory using imagery captured by satellites and drones, as well as artificial intelligence (AI). The exact types of parked vehicles were identified through drone footage released on YouTube.
Analysis indicated that the number of electric vehicles parked in the delivery vehicle shipping building’s west parking lot has significantly increased from March and December of last year to March of this year. In fact, the footage captured on March 2 of last year detected 48 Cybertrucks, while the video recorded on December 31 showed 26, but the video captured on March 26 of this year showed a substantial increase to 184. The representative model, Model Y, also saw a change from 182 to 7 and then to 263 during the same period. This parking lot showed not only new electric vehicles, including Model Y and Cybertruck, but also numerous vehicles likely used by Tesla employees and subcontractor employees.
A similar increase in vehicles waiting for delivery was also observed in the main building’s east parking lot, which serves as an employee parking area. The footage from March 2 of last year detected 51 Cybertrucks, while the video from December 31 recorded 5; however, on March 24 of this year, during the discussion of sales sluggishness, it showed 229. Model Y also recorded changes from 108 to 23 and then to 198 during the same period.
The analysis team noted, ‘The parked vehicles are likely to be those remaining in a waiting status for delivery due to decreased sales,’ adding, ‘This could be a result of imbalance between supply and demand as demand slows down.’
Since the launch of the Trump administration, Tesla has faced multiple challenges. As Elon Musk leads budget cuts and restructuring of federal agencies as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), negative perceptions of the Tesla brand are spreading in both the U.S. and Europe.
Tesla’s sales volume and market share for electric vehicles are sharply declining. On the 22nd (local time), Tesla announced that its deliveries for the first quarter were 336,681 units, a 13% decrease from the same period last year. Total revenue during the same period was $19.335 billion (approximately 27.633 trillion won), which was a 9% decrease compared to the same period last year. In terms of institutional sectors, sales in the core automotive business amounted to $13.967 billion (approximately 19.962 trillion won), a 20% decrease compared to the same period last year. Tesla attributed the revenue drop to sluggish vehicle delivery performance and a decrease in the average selling price (ASP) of vehicles.
In fact, independent American news media, Sherwood, reported that an analysis of satellite images of Tesla’s Giga Texas facility suggests that half of the vehicles parked outdoors are estimated to be Cybertrucks in inventory. According to electric vehicle magazine Electrek, earlier this month, it was reported that inventory for Cybertrucks has reached about $200 million due to sluggish sales.
It is difficult to definitively conclude Tesla’s performance trends and inventory management issues based solely on satellite images from a specific point in time. However, comparing changes in the number of vehicles shown in satellite images over a period can provide estimates of production speed increases or inventory changes.
The analysis team said, ‘Changes at the production site that are difficult to ascertain from officially announced figures can be detected through satellite images, which can be used as supplementary material for investment decisions.’
References
Naraspace Earthpaper, https://ep.naraspace.com/
With the advancement of low-cost space launch vehicles and small satellite technology, we have entered an era where we can observe events on Earth in real-time. Satellites are now used not only for defense but also for disaster monitoring, loss assessment, and industrial trend analysis across various domains. ChosunBiz will be publishing a series of space journalism pieces titled ‘The world seen by satellites’ and ‘The economy observed by satellites’ in collaboration with the domestic satellite service company Naraspace, utilizing satellite imagery for analysis in defense, industry, economy, society, and international news.