Tesla Is Sitting on a Record 50k Unsold EVs • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla Is Sitting on a Record 50k Unsold EVs

#81

Post by ivewonyoung » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:15 PM UTC

decimalenough wrote: post #15

The figures quoted here are old, since EV sales have gotten a massive boost from spiking oil prices. The actual figures aren't out yet but anecdotal evidence at least in Australia suggests sales in March (across all brands, not just Tesla) doubled from February. That said, for Tesla this is only a bandaid, since they have absolutely nothing in the consumer pipeline beyond the current increasingly uncompetitive offeri…

> Chinese brands like BYD, on the other hand, are laughing all the way to the bank

BYD sales are down.

https://cleantechnica.com/2026/04/02/byd-sales-down-20-4-in-...

Re: Tesla Is Sitting on a Record 50k Unsold EVs

#82

Post by drivingmenuts » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:16 PM UTC

What do you have to do to get people to realize that SOB is basically a Nazi? Nobody seems to care that he’s a racist POS supporting extreme right-wing causes.

Re: Tesla Is Sitting on a Record 50k Unsold EVs

#83

Post by ivewonyoung » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:18 PM UTC

defrost wrote: post #79

bombcar wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't BYD just lay off 100k people?

Just reported, yes, that's globally and throughout the past 12 months so that's a 10% work force reduction overall. In the same period they're posting record sales, it's possible that's mostly a reduction in bleeding edge sales promotion staff, influencers, etc now they have better recognition. Two press takes on likely the same company press release material. * https://www.autoblog.com/news/the-ev-boom-is-changing-a…

> In the same period they're posting record sales

This says that sales are actually down. Where are you getting record sales from?

https://cleantechnica.com/2026/04/02/byd-sales-down-20-4-in-...

Re: Tesla Is Sitting on a Record 50k Unsold EVs

#84

Post by bombcar » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:20 PM UTC

defrost wrote: post #79

bombcar wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't BYD just lay off 100k people?

Just reported, yes, that's globally and throughout the past 12 months so that's a 10% work force reduction overall. In the same period they're posting record sales, it's possible that's mostly a reduction in bleeding edge sales promotion staff, influencers, etc now they have better recognition. Two press takes on likely the same company press release material. * https://www.autoblog.com/news/the-ev-boom-is-changing-a…

Mostly unrelated (my surprise that BYD had nearly a million employees) - but a fun vibe coded game would be to give a company, maybe some stats about it, and then you try to guess the number of employees.

Re: Tesla Is Sitting on a Record 50k Unsold EVs

#85

Post by whizzter » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:20 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #57

Aurornis wrote: post #17

This is all so frustrating. Tesla could have easily been an American auto maker generational success story. Instead they’re working hard to undermine their own success, turn their brand toxic, and even design vehicles that are unappealing to key purchasing demographics (Cybertruck).

No. For all practical purposes, Chinese cars are perfectly fine for most consumers. Since you cannot beat China on manufacturing costs, this war is already lost. Musk or no Musk.

Chineese phonemakers exist yet Apple pulls in a significant portion of profits due to their _halo_ allowing them to sell at a higher price point.

Tesla had that, all Musk had to do was refrain himself from waving his hand around in that certain fashion.

New registrations in Sweden for the past 3 years, Sweden alone would've probably absorbed about 14000 cars of that unsold stock.

  2023  20388  341835  0,0596428101276932  (5.96%)
  2024  21894  314485  0,0696185827622939  (6.96%)
  2025   7254  314426  0,0230706112089967  (2.31%)
  2026   2849   72525  0,0392830058600483  (3.93%)

(Sales in 2026 were low until March 2026, Musk probably gotta thank Trump for oil-prices jumping up enough to move the needle again)

The worst news for Tesla isn't the sales though, with "Texas-like" distances in Sweden (and Norway and Finland) there was a perception that only Tesla cars could properly handle the distances without getting too much battery angst.

When people started looking around they realized that the other carmakers were getting their shit together and could actually deliver cars that handled distances well enough.

Re: Tesla Is Sitting on a Record 50k Unsold EVs

#86

Post by defrost » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:24 PM UTC

ivewonyoung wrote: post #83

defrost wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just reported, yes, that's globally and throughout the past 12 months so that's a 10% work force reduction overall. In the same period they're posting record sales, it's possible that's mostly a reduction in bleeding edge sales promotion staff, influencers, etc now they have better recognition. Two press takes on likely the same company press release material. * https://www.autoblog.com/news/the-ev-boom-is-changing-a…

> In the same period they're posting record sales This says that sales are actually down . Where are you getting record sales from? https://cleantechnica.com/2026/04/02/byd-sales-down-20-4-in-...

> Where are you getting record sales from?

I posted two links that both say that, of course both appear to mirror the same primary source.

You'd have to drill into both cleantechnica and the BYD presser for the exact details and caveats that come with all such reporting.

  Revenue and deliveries reach new highs

  BYD reported 8039.6 billion yuan (1,123 billion USD) in revenue for 2025, alongside 4.60 million vehicle deliveries, according to the NBD. Overseas deliveries reached approximately 1.05 million units, according to Sina reporting, marking the first time the company surpassed the 1-million-unit mark in exports.

~ https://carnewschina.com/2026/03/31/byd-cuts-100000-jobs-wor...

  BYD slashes 100,000 jobs yet posts record sales. Inside the cost cuts, profit squeeze, and why it’s still leading the global EV race.

~ https://www.autoblog.com/news/the-ev-boom-is-changing-and-10...

Re: Tesla Is Sitting on a Record 50k Unsold EVs

#87

Post by freedomben » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:25 PM UTC

bombcar wrote: post #58

freedomben wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could be, except it's not factually correct (and an element of truth is necesssary for good humor). GP was talking about Tesla , not about Elon. The correct pronoun for a company is surely "they"

It could be, or you could consider it to be like a ship, in which case it is she !

ha! I stand corrected :-)

Re: Tesla Is Sitting on a Record 50k Unsold EVs

#88

Post by hkpack » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:28 PM UTC

blastro wrote: post #68

freedomben wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't agree after reading Walter Isaacson's excellent biography of Elon. It's deeply unfortunate that the book is already a few years old, I'd love and buy the hell out of a 2nd edition that is updated with the last few years. Obviously it's always been latent in Elon, but he was a pretty bog standard lightly-if-apolitical silicon valley startup guy for most of his adult life. The free speech erosion under the Bide…

Free speech erosion under Biden... can you elaborate?

Nothing productive will come out of this conversation.

Re: Tesla Is Sitting on a Record 50k Unsold EVs

#89

Post by freedomben » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:29 PM UTC

blastro wrote: post #68

freedomben wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't agree after reading Walter Isaacson's excellent biography of Elon. It's deeply unfortunate that the book is already a few years old, I'd love and buy the hell out of a 2nd edition that is updated with the last few years. Obviously it's always been latent in Elon, but he was a pretty bog standard lightly-if-apolitical silicon valley startup guy for most of his adult life. The free speech erosion under the Bide…

Free speech erosion under Biden... can you elaborate?

The administration put pressure on tech companies to make them censor people for "disinformation". For example:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/mark-zuckerbe...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_Files

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Biden_laptop_controvers...

Re: Tesla Is Sitting on a Record 50k Unsold EVs

#90

Post by amelius » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:30 PM UTC

whizzter wrote: post #85

amelius wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. For all practical purposes, Chinese cars are perfectly fine for most consumers. Since you cannot beat China on manufacturing costs, this war is already lost. Musk or no Musk.

Chineese phonemakers exist yet Apple pulls in a significant portion of profits due to their _halo_ allowing them to sell at a higher price point. Tesla had that, all Musk had to do was refrain himself from waving his hand around in that certain fashion. New registrations in Sweden for the past 3 years, Sweden alone would've probably absorbed about 14000 cars of that unsold stock. 2023 20388 341835 0,0596428101276932…

> Chineese phonemakers exist yet Apple pulls in a significant portion of profits due to their _halo_ allowing them to sell at a higher price point.

The difference is that most customers have the financial wiggle room to buy a more expensive phone. With cars this is an entirely different story because cars are the most expensive things people own (besides a house).

For most people it holds that a car should just get them from A to B. The money for anything more fancy is better spent on something else.

There is a reason Apple is not in the car business.