Tesla Idles Austin Factory

Just like plenty of other automakers, Tesla is going to idle an assembly line as demand for new vehicles continues to soften. Predictably, some in the media are trying to pretend Tesla is the only one doing such a thing, which absolutely isn’t true.

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Reportedly, Tesla is telling assembly workers at its Austin factory, which produces the Model Y and Cybertruck, to either stay home or clean the facility floors for the entire week of Memorial Day. The only logical reason for that would be to slow the flow of new vehicles into the market because demand has adjusted.

The same thing has been done elsewhere, like Bowling Green Assembly, which makes the Corvette. In fact, GM had at least four planned production pauses by May. Plus, it let go some assembly workers while others took early buyouts.

Late last year, Stellantis laid off assembly workers at a few facilities. Then in March it reportedly was trying to buy out others. Then it came out that assembly work for Jeep Gladiators stopped earlier this month, supposedly because of a parts issue. But we wonder if demand problems were also a factor.

Some of the shuffling of car assembly work is related to tariffs, like how Canadian factories are trimming back or GM’s Wayne Assembly plant is pumping up truck production by 20 percent. But that’s not the only thing affecting the market right now.

With news of big layoffs, inflation squeezing people as new vehicle prices are sky high, interest rates sitting stubbornly high, etc. some consumers don’t want a new car, weakening demand. Tesla certainly isn’t immune to this. But some are trying to attribute everything to Elon Musk’s involvement with DOGE and President Trump. Again, it’s a reach that ignores so many other factors feeding into a complicated market situation.

At least Kia and Hyundai are selling plenty of cheap cars these days.

Source: Business Insider

Image via Tesla