Tesla owner gets ‘parking ticket’ from GM for being a ‘foreign’ car at its factory

Here’s a funny and light little post to start off your Monday. A Tesla owner received a parking ticket from GM when parking in a lot at its Wentzville Assembly Plant in Missouri that is meant for domestic vehicles.

GM’s parking attendant believed the Tesla was a foreign vehicle, but, little did they know, it’s actually more American than the vehicles GM makes in Wentzville.

Something you might not know – I certainly didn’t – is that many automakers have parking lots dedicated not only to their own vehicles but also to domestic and foreign vehicles.

In other words, some automakers unsurprisingly maintain dedicated parking spots at their facilities for vehicles of their own brands, but they also go as far as having lots dedicated only to American vehicles and others for foreign vehicles.

That’s the case at GM’s assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri.

When a Tesla Model 3 owner came to the facility last week, they parked appropriately in the non-GM domestic vehicle parking lot, but they were surprised to find this ticket on the vehicle (via Facebook group Useless, Unsuccessful, and/or Unpopular Signage):

As you can see, the reason for the ticket, which doesn’t come with a fine to be fair, is listed as “foreign in domestic lot.”

GM actually commented on the mishap (via The Drive):

“Wentzville, like many of our manufacturing sites, has a parking policy and designated parking locations for GM vehicles, non-GM domestic vehicles and foreign nameplates. Plant security inadvertently thought the Tesla was a foreign car and wrote a ticket accordingly.”

The irony is that the Tesla Model 3 was declared the most American-made vehicle by Cars.com’s American Made-Index just last week.

Based on criteria ranging from US factory jobs and manufacturing plants to parts sourcing, they believe that the Model 3 is more “American made” than any vehicle produced by GM, including the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon being produced at the Wentzville Assembly Plant.

As we noted in our article about the update to the American Made-index, many people still don’t know that Tesla is an American automaker. That’s a great example.