A Series of Problems! “Tesla,” Which Sold Over 12,000 Units in the First Half of the Year, Has Taken Over Daikoku Pier

A Strange Sight at Daikoku Pier

“Just when I thought a line of shiny new Teslas was being brought into the parking lot one after another, suddenly a large group of people who looked like customers arrived by bus and taxi and started the delivery procedures right there on the spot. And this was at a public parking lot, mind you? This is unheard of.”

A parking lot staff member who witnessed the mass Tesla delivery on June 28 at the “Daikoku Fishing Facility Parking Lot” on Daikoku Pier in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, recalled the bizarre scene with a sense of excitement.It was, of course, “unprecedented.” After all, it was carried out without permission from the City of Yokohama, which manages the parking lot… Automotive journalist Kumiko Kato explains.

“An official from the Yokohama City Port Authority told me during my interview, ‘We received neither prior consultation nor a usage application from Tesla.’ Occupying a large portion of the parking lot for purposes other than its intended use is an extremely malicious act that hinders access for the general public.
Tesla sold more than 12,000 vehicles in the first half of this year alone. This is roughly four times its sales in recent years. They likely needed a large parking lot to handle the massive number of vehicle deliveries.I believe Daikoku Pier was chosen because a Tesla pre-delivery inspection facility is located nearby, making transportation easy. It appears that dozens of vehicles were delivered on that day alone.”

Since the start of this year, the government has increased purchase subsidies. For Tokyo residents, when combined with the metropolitan government’s subsidy, up to 2.37 million yen per vehicle is available. Tesla promotes Tokyo on its official website as “the city where Teslas are the cheapest in the world.”After-sales services, such as three years of free charging, have further fueled this trend, leading to a surge in sales centered around Tokyo.

However, the infrastructure needed to support this expanding demand has not kept pace, leading to a series of delivery issues like the one mentioned at the beginning. By July, deliveries themselves had finally come to a standstill.A man in his 30s living in Tokyo who purchased Tesla’s mid-size sedan, the Model 3, expressed his frustration: “I was scheduled to receive my car in mid-July, but now the delivery date is listed as ‘undetermined.’ I’ve already started making loan payments, so I can’t accept not knowing when I’ll be able to drive it.”

“It has been suggested that sales have been halted because the batteries and motors installed in the vehicles differ from the model numbers listed on the vehicle registration certificates. Although some buyers reportedly received notification on the 21st that deliveries would resume, if the model numbers really are different, many deliveries may be delayed until September or later,” said Mr. Kato.

Is this just the beginning of Tesla’s missteps?

From the August 7 & 14, 2026, combined issue of *FRIDAY*