How long will Tesla's current retail model be feasible?

[daniel]

^ I have no problem with dangerous gasoline cars in malls. I want them banned from roads.

[erha]

Looks like Tesla might start selling cars from their showrooms in the future to buyers who don't want to wait.

"There may be some cars that we might put at our facilities and have people come in and buy the car because they don't want to wait. We want to start offering that feature." - Ahuja

Page 2 - How Tesla Plans to Revolutionize the Electric Car - TheStreet

[ckessel]

Looks like Tesla might start selling cars from their showrooms in the future to buyers who don't want to wait.

"There may be some cars that we might put at our facilities and have people come in and buy the car because they don't want to wait. We want to start offering that feature." - Ahuja

Page 2 - How Tesla Plans to Revolutionize the Electric Car - TheStreet

That was in speaking about Gen3 though or at least in the context of shipping 100k vehicles a year. I wouldn't expect to see it any time soon.

[rogbmw]

From what I understand (and was true when I lived there), most of the high end cars in Europe are sold by ordering the car. They do not have stacks of cars sitting on a lot as they do here in the US. It is the norm, and people are used to ordering exactly what they want, and waiting for it to be built.

[mgemmell]

From what I understand (and was true when I lived there), most of the high end cars in Europe are sold by ordering the car. They do not have stacks of cars sitting on a lot as they do here in the US. It is the norm, and people are used to ordering exactly what they want, and waiting for it to be built.

Absolutely right. I always find it amazing to see the lots full of cars in the dealerships in the US. I've never seen that anywhere in the EU.

There are occasionally a few stockpiled examples that dealers buy to reach quota and then sell at discount, but those are point examples, not the norm. I suppose for lower cost cars things are different, but in the case of BMW, Audi, Lexus and Jaguar it has always been order and wait. Audi even email you status updates of where your car is in the production line.

Every time I have bought a car I have ordered it and waited months, as have all my friends. In fact the *one time* I didn't have to do that was when I bought the Roadster! I wanted Lightning Green and they had one in Denmark on display. They changed the wheels, updated the firmware and shipped it down here a week later.

[BenTesla]

I think the dealerships could work long term. You can keep extra cars in the parking lot. Granted not a lot of car but still. If they have a 4 car model range, 2 in the showroom and 2 in the parking lot. (Probably put the Roadster in the parking lot cause its not an everyday car

[jerry33]

Absolutely right. I always find it amazing to see the lots full of cars in the dealerships in the US. I've never seen that anywhere in the EU.

The reason for that is that the U.S. dealer marketing plan is to maximize the profit on each sale, rather than have a fixed mark up with prices clearly marked. The quicker the dealer can get the car off the lot, the less chance the buyer will have to do any comparison shopping. And whether you get a "good deal" or no, you go away feeling like you have been taken to the cleaners. This is why almost everyone in the U.S. hates the dealer purchasing experience. Then there's the dealer service experience, but that's another rant.

[vfx]

Saw a store just like Tesla's in a mall. It had five Fiat 500s inside.

Attachment 6413

This store is now gone.

Perfect for Tesla to move in (except it's a 2nd floor)


I will re-suggest the Whizzen Center in Agoura Hills. It's a 50's mall getting a full facelift and high LEED certification. The developer seems to be doing it right.

[ChrisgG]

What's the upside of the Tesla stores? When I read the forums many people get different information for the same subject at Tesla events and different stores. When I asked people at tesla 2 years ago, what I should include in my new home to be ready for a tesla car, I got no real answer. So for me the best source of Tesla informations are the forums and the people on it. The own shops don't seem to make the qualety any better from whatsoever dealership around.

Tesla is also compaired to Apple because they too have those fancy shops. True, but hell you can buy apple products practically everywhere. Especially the gadgets around it like covers and so on. And this is one of the greatest adventeges apple as. Not their fancy shops but that everybody seems to take some stuff for Iphones and Ipads in their stock. If I want to buy something for my Samsung I have to go online...

With one houre away from Zürich I'm not too far away from a Store, but if I want to test drive I'd have to take half a day off. For any other Car I drop by after work. To service the car it's the same. Sure there are the Rangers wich also get cheaper, but really? Everyone here wants at least to get rid of the oil and gas dependency and the you let people drive in a big heavy car towing all the material to your place?

I like Tesla but the store and service model they have isn't my favorite and I don't see any adventages in it.

[jstoneman]

One of the major things that I noticed when I walked into the store in Seattle WA was the education factor. Part of the purpose (at least that I saw) was that Tesla is trying to educate the public about the general awesome-ness of electric vehicles. They are simply planting seeds for the future. Everybody that walks by the store goes, "Wow" and who knows in 2015-2016 how many of those initial contacts being made now will convert into sales for the company once the most affordable models come out? I think putting the stores in high-traffic areas in order to educate the public was a stroke of genius. On the other side, Telsa still hasn't made a profit......