Elon's demand "secret weapon" ...what is it?

[ecarfan]

I wrote a really long post over here explaining why the Tesla Pop-Up store seems to be the demand/anti-dealer secret weapon. Even if its not THE secret weapon, it is at the very least, A secret weapon.

Agree, I think those mobile stores are the "secret weapon" Elon was referring to.

 

[bonaire]

Are the pop-up stores allowed to pop-up in states which don't allow selling direct?

 

[jerry33]

Are the pop-up stores allowed to pop-up in states which don't allow selling direct?

No. Permanent or temporary shouldn't affect the legislation and would be counter productive if attempted.

 

[scaesare]

No. Permanent or temporary shouldn't affect the legislation and would be counter productive if attempted.

Hmm, I thought that was one of the values of these... that they allowed a presence as a result of it being temporary and thus were a "weapon" against that sort of legislation?

[finds articles from other thread...]

Ahh here they are... THIS article uses phrases such as:

When is an illegal store no longer a store, and therefore no longer illegal? When it has wheels....Will these container stores invade anti-Tesla zones...e company of the future, smacked by century-old retail regulations, counter-attacks...

And then THIS one outrightly states:

It lets people experience the product more closely and it also brings the cars to the doorstep of a community in the places where they are not allowed or restricted by the number of stores [allowed]...

So I believe the answer to bonaire's question is actually "Yes".

 

[Gerasimental]

Even if they're allowed to pop up, surely they can't actually make a sale from them in illegal states? As in, no pricing info, no test drives, no 'sales' activity.

 

[scaesare]

Even if they're allowed to pop up, surely they can't actually make a sale from them in illegal states? As in, no pricing info, no test drives, no 'sales' activity.

I'd agree that they couldn't sell.

But that doesn't mean they can't use these for a road show in states where selling is prohibited, as bonaire asked.

 

[AudubonB]

I am pretty sure a careful answer is going to be "it depends on a state-by-state basis". We received from another poster the pdf file of the pertinent pages from Utah's (????) Code; there will be 49 or so variants thereof.

 

[Ocelot]

I hope the pop-up store is not the secret weapon. Well it might increase exposure, I do not think it will directly have a huge impact on sales. It could if there were more models out, with more price ranges. Most people in the market for a 75 g plus car these days, have heard of Tesla and if they wanted to pursue that avenue would of regardless of a pop up store or not. I say this as most people I know have heard of Tesla by now, and most people I know with the means to buy a Tesla can be subdivided into two basic categories. The first being car people -likely will buy an expensive or not your average car or both and have heard of Tesla... non -car people- will buy a nicer car, (maybe), but have little interest in spending a ton on a car, and next to zero interest in putting in chargers, planning routes etc, and are more than happy waiting until charging is status quo before going there themselves.

 

[dhanson865]

Are the pop-up stores allowed to pop-up in states which don't allow selling direct?

If not, there is nothing stopping one from popping up just over the border.

Imagine a tri state or more area with a large town away from the border but a smaller town on the border. A permanent store might be stuck in the bigger town further away from the "you can't have a store" state but a pop up store might be able to hang out near the border for a month and make a lot of sales before moving on to another border location for a different "you can't have a store" state.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

With the FTC and DOJ Anti-Trust division at their back, and no fixed assets at risk, it will be interesting to see if Tesla decides to intentionally challenge the law in one state with a mobile store. Imagine the press it would generate. A little bit of civil disobedience could very well bring about major change when confronted with the ridiculousness of the fact that an American car company can't give people test drives and take internet orders in their stores in some states.

 

[Robert.Boston]

With the FTC and DOJ Anti-Trust division at their back, and no fixed assets at risk, it will be interesting to see if Tesla decides to intentionally challenge the law in one state with a mobile store. Imagine the press it would generate. A little bit of civil disobedience could very well bring about major change when confronted with the ridiculousness of the fact that an American car company can't give people test drives and take internet orders in their stores in some states.

A state could freeze this idea by refusing to issue plates to the cars sold. I surely wouldn't be willing to plop down $100k on "contraban" that I then had to register....

 

[HankLloydRight]

How would any state know what cars in particular were sold in such a manner? When it gets right down to it, aren't all cars sold "online"?