Strategic Alliance: Tesla & Costco

[adamd2320]

This is for primary research data for a business strategy college course. Your opinion is great appreciated.
Two questions:

1. Would you purchase a Costco membership to save on the purchase of your Tesla through a Costco Auto Program for Tesla?

2. Would you purchase a Costco membership if every Costco who had a supercharger allowed for free charging for members? (This includes those Tesla cars purchased after January 1, 2017 in which charging will no longer be free for life.)

 

[JimmyMcNulty]

Voted yes.

1) I can see lots of folks answering yes to this. I already have a Costco membership as a single male living alone. I love everything about Costco and I'm happy to support them.

2) This would be amazing, but I don't see it happening. I'd be extremely happy if time proved me wrong.

 

[bonnie]

Adam, there are some assumptions in your questions you might want to reconsider.

You assume that Tesla would be willing to discount cars to sell through a 3rd party. At the moment, they're not even willing to sell through a third party, much less with a discount.

Most people only use supercharging on long-distance trips -- and usually visit Costco within their home region. Looking at my personal usage, there is no reason I'd need to supercharge at a local Costco, since I start out every morning with a 'full tank'.

Tesla would get their cars in front of a lot of people at a Costco. And the demographic could be a good match with Model 3.

 

[patrick40363]

Costco took out all the level 2 chargers they used to have. I never found out why other than lack of use?

 

[bhzmark]

Tesla should threaten to sell cars through Costco or Nordstrom in states that are too stupid to let Tesla sell directly.

That should put fear in the dealers associations who would be terrified if their customer service and sales were compared to Costco or Nordstrom.

 

[AudubonB]

Bonnie makes, as per her constitutionality, good points.

I make, as per my constitutionality, the outlier points.

1. The nearest Costco to us is 268 miles away.
2. That Costco represents something close to 60 percent of ALL our business's non-capital expenditures each year.

Guess who would be making _______d good use of any SpC that happened to be at that Costco!!!!!!

 

[SW2Fiddler]

I had a weird thought when picking up my S from Costco Tire Centre...
Costco service bays could replace drive units provided proper training and spare units. Perhaps after an OTA diagnostic.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

only if they serviced them too - would love to shop and get my car serviced at the same time

 

[McRat]

Costco is the #2 car seller in the US.

Tesla should list with them.

Costco is not a dealer, they are a wholesaler.

Costco has buyer protection plans that exceed the industry standard. Few companies have as good of customer service and employee benefits as Costco.

 

[Dwdnjck]

Most states have rules that prevent Costco from acting as a "dealer" for Tesla. If you want to buy a car from Costco, they refer you to a local dealer for the Costco "discount".

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Sounds like racketeering to me, what I mean is the handoff to a dealer. I love the Costco model - buy significantly from them for durable goods.

 

[McRat]

I can buy a $15k watch from Costco and know it was actually worth $15k.

That is not true for many companies.

Costco is a company that well-heeled customers trust.

If Costco sold me a Tesla I'd know I'd be happy or they would fix it.

 

[GoTslaGo]

FWIW, most of the people who have ever stopped and ask me questions about Tesla have asked me at Costco. Implies to me that the demographic and interests are there.

 

[larmor]

If it's not at costco, then I don't need it... Just returned a vacuum, after vacuum repair shop asked if we got it from costco. Costco took it back.

I miss the EV chargers at costco.

 

[McRat]

Our Costco has 62.5kW CHAdeMO and CCS as well as L2.

SInce all 3 of our EV's are EREV's we leave them open for those in need.

 

[aesculus]

This is pretty normal for the Costco near me. It's like 10c a gallon cheaper than a low price place nearby.

BTW all of these cars are idling and burning fuel at the worst possible rate for environmental concerns.

I would suspect a Tesla supercharger bank to look the same.

 

[McRat]

Yeah, I get a kick outta folk waiting an hour to save a dollar on gas.

 

[GoTslaGo]

This is pretty normal for the Costco near me. It's like 10c a gallon cheaper than a low price place nearby.

BTW all of these cars are idling and burning fuel at the worst possible rate for environmental concerns.

I would suspect a Tesla supercharger bank to look the same.

Except no emissions (at least from the cars that is...).

 

[BluestarE3]

Yeah, I get a kick outta folk waiting an hour to save a dollar on gas.

We go at night about a half-hour before closing and there's hardly anyone in line. Very often, we just pull right up to a pump. Likewise, the checkout lines in the store itself are short late in the evening.

 

[HumanGenome]

Costco could convert some of their parking lot into a supercharger and service electric cars at their existing service centers on site.

Even if they didn't offer a discount on purchase price, Costco could sweeten the deal by offering discounts on tires or service for vehicles purchased through them.

Sounds like a pretty solid idea.