RALEIGH
In the near-empty parking lot of a half-deserted Raleigh mall, nearly 200 unsold Teslas sit parked in long rows, looking lonelier than wallflowers at a high school dance.
They number 194 in all: identical, charcoal-colored Model Y electric vehicles, all waiting for drivers in temporary digs at Triangle Town Center, just outside closed-down Sears.
Together, they make an eye-catching spectacle for those who pass by:
“Reminded me of a group of black birds,” wrote one poster on Reddit. “A murder of Tesla crows? A conspiracy of Tesla ravens? Anyone know what’s up? ... Are those Tesla robotaxis?”
“All fun and games until all their lights turn on and they start slowly rolling towards you,” wrote another.
The truth is less ominous.
All around the country, Tesla is “sitting on so much overstock” that the electric car giant has turned to mall parking lots as a storage solution, according to Electrek, an online electric vehicle news site.
“This is what is known as an ‘overflow’ lot to handle rising inventory levels,” Electrek wrote in June. “Tesla has been using a lot more of these this year amid demand problems.”
Tesla parked between 200 and 400 vehicles, including dozens of cybertrucks, in a suburban St. Louis mall last year on a six-month lease starting just before the mall’s demolition, according to a Fox station there. As the cars accumulated, St. Louis magazine noted it had gained the nickname “Tesla graveyard.”
Outside Detroit, Teslas began filling up a shopping center in Farmington Hills, CBS reported in May, prompting a letter from the city’s code enforcement department.
“It’s kind of shocking,” said Mike Victor to CBS after witnessing the cluster. “It’s interesting the service center doesn’t have space.”
Increasingly shaky
Triangle Town Center has seen declining traffic after the closing of many of its anchor stores, including Macy’s, announced last week. Its owners Summit Properties USA did not respond to questions from The N&O, and neither did Tesla, which has a store near the struggling mall.
But while Tesla CEO Elon Musk cited the Model Y as the world’s best-selling car, Electrek countered by saying his claim looks “increasingly shaky.” Data points to the midsize SUV’s sales declining by 12% to 15% in 2025, the site said in late December.
The brand took a hit last year during Musk’s turn as head of DOGE, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, slashing federal jobs with a symbolic chain-saw, to the extent that students at nearby Elon University distanced themselves from the billionaire to whom they have no connection.
Analysts noted a decline in Tesla demand even as hunger for EVs grew.
“So, could the problem be less about motoring and more to do with CEO Elon Musk’s high-profile political career?” asked Maria Fernandez in Motointegrator. “Tesla’s outlier status has coincided with Musk’s increasingly visible role in U.S. politics, suggesting that declining sales and loss of ground to competitors could be part of a deeper brand backlash.”
Meanwhile, the Raleigh Teslas sit — a fleet for the future without a crew.
