(Natural News) Tesla, Inc., the American Multinational corporation based in California, which specializes in the production of electric vehicles and lithium-ion battery energy storage (among other things), produced the world's best-selling plug-in electric car in both 2015 and 2016, and appears to be going from strength to strength.

Nonetheless, despite being lauded by celebrities for its use of "green" energy, Tesla is not everybody's favorite corporation, and the news that the company appears to be hiding thousands of vehicles in different locations in California has many wondering what exactly Elon Musk – Tesla's CEO – is up to.

As reported by Zero Hedge, an email Musk sent to his staff in which he stated, "Not only did we factory gate 5000 Model 3's, but we also achieved the S & X production target for a combined 7000 vehicle week!" lit a fire under a group of Twitter Tesla sleuths, prompting them to discover just what the term "factory gate" – a term not previously used by Musk – could possibly mean. (Related: Is Elon Musk selling HYPE rather than reliable vehicles?)

Twitter sleuths on the trail

A Twitter sleuth with the handle @IspyTSLA took up the challenge of discovering exactly what message Musk might have been conveying to his staff, and didn't give up until he discovered that the 5,000 vehicles were sitting in a field at 500 E Louise Ave, Lathrop, California. The tenacious sleuth also discovered that the premises being used to house the vehicles had become available for lease just six months earlier, indicating that Tesla had likely hired it very recently.

Speculation has been rife as to why the vehicles are being hidden. @IspyTSLA's tweet that "There is so much inventory here it's crazy," caused some to wonder whether the company might be using the premises to temporarily hide vehicles that should be "off the books." Video footage collected by @IspyTSLA seems to show the vehicles just sitting out in the open, unprotected from the harsh California sun.