Houston, TX showroom announced

[pgwoosley]

Today's Houston Chronicle's business section, second page, says below a picture a Model S being assembled:
"Living on Tesla Time
"... Tesla will open a Houston retail store in the coming months where customers can design and order their own high-end, all-electric sports car. The store will be in the Houston Galleria and will be more like a traditional retail store than a dealership. In Tesla showrooms buyers can order a test drive, design certain features on a custom-made vehicle and place an order. The company owns and operates all of its stores and does not work with dealer franchisees. ..."

[tdelta1000]

That's cool. How many stores is that now in the States?

[dsm363]

I met the store manager at the Model S event. Very nice person. Glad they finally have a presence in Texas. I wonder how they'll set up service in Texas though with the Rangers.

[ryanjm]

I met the store manager at the Model S event. Very nice person. Glad they finally have a presence in Texas. I wonder how they'll set up service in Texas though with the Rangers.

The baseball team is a little busy with the playoffs to be worrying about servicing Roadsters in their free time.

Heh, sorry. I couldn't resist.

[vfx]

I met the store manager at the Model S event. Very nice person. ....

Yeah that was weird meeting him. You work exactly where???
Now we know.

[kgb]

This answered a bunch of my questions. I have a dinner with my kid's school the same night, but I'm going to try to make it.

[dsm363]

You think they could have planned this on a Friday night. I asked them to not put it during the week as that would make it harder for people outside Houston to attend. Oh well. Hope people have fun at the event.

[William13]

How does this store relate to the Texas rule requiring independent dealerships?

[Bruno Suárez]

Nice! I have been waiting for Tesla Motors to open a store in Texas. And it's in the city of Houston the energy capital of the United States of America (correct me if I'm wrong on that statement). Houston is well known for it's profoundly heavy emphasis on oil and natural gas. The immensely gigantic and astonishing irony.

Go Tesla, GO!

[kgb]

How does this store relate to the Texas rule requiring independent dealerships?

What I've been told is that no cars will be sold at these "stores" in Texas (until the law is changed). It is more of a showroom. When a Texas resident is ready to purchase, the sale takes place in California and the car shipped from California.