Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Thursday, May 29.
For readers not familiar with the Detroit area, the region is loaded with vast parking areas that hold overflow inventories of vehicles made by General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis. In hard times, the lots are usually full. In good times, the lots are usually empty.
Locals aren't used to seeing overflow lots full of Teslas.
But that's what a couple of us journalists discovered over the weekend in a parking lot of an aging shopping center in Farmington Hills, Mich., just down the street from a brand new Tesla store.
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The majority of the vehicles seen in this lot on Sunday were Cybertrucks, which through the first quarter were outsold in the U.S. by Ford's electric F-150 Lightning pickups, according to registration data cited in this story by Laurence Iliff. Analysts have pointed to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's political activism for President Donald Trump as one reason for the disappointing deliveries.
Musk on Wednesday formally ended his involvement with the Trump administration's cost-cutting blitz and he vowed over the weekend to resume being "super focused" on Tesla and his other businesses.
Back in suburban Detroit, the dozens of Teslas sitting in the parking lot piqued additional interest because the vehicles aren't supposed to be there. Farmington Hills told the landlord that storage vehicles are not permitted on the site, located in a generally upscale neighborhood.
"The enforcement process is being followed and takes time," a city official told our affiliate Crain's Detroit Business.
Meanwhile, Antonio Filosa isn't wasting time getting prepared to take over as Stellantis CEO. He picked Europe to start a tour of the automaker's factories and offices before starting his new job on June 23, Reuters reported. Filosa's decision to begin his tour on the continent signaled an intention to start building solid relations in Stellantis' No. 2 market after North America, having led the latter since October, the story said.
Finally, we have three in-depth stories focusing on extended-range electric vehicles, led by this piece from Richard Truett. Another story explains how these vehicles work, while the third piece defines the different types of hybrids on the market.
That's it for now. Have a great rest of your day. If you want to view this story in your browser, click here.
— Philip Nussel, online editor
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