Filed under: Car Buying, Hybrids/Alternative, Green
Tesla Motors opens first factory store in Los Angeles
Click above for high-res gallery from Tesla's Flagship Store grand opening
Tesla Motors has found enough time in between suing and getting sued by its suppliers to open its first dealership in Los Angeles, CA today. Located on the corner of Santa Monica and Sepulveda boulevards, the $2 million dealership sprawls 10,000 square feet and features poured concrete floors, an exposed ceiling of ductwork and beams, mirrors and potted plants. This is no Chipotle, however, as the first Tesla dealership will be staffed by salaried Tesla employees, not traditional salespeople who work on commission. Another dealership is in the works near Silicon Valley closer to the company's HQ, but we're not sure when that one will open.
Clearly modeled on the highly successful Apple Store experiment, the Tesla factory store is as much about educating the public and building brand awareness as it is about selling Tesla Roadsters. And that's a good thing, as there are no Tesla Roadsters to sell right now. The fledgling automaker has already sold 600 cars and has a waiting list 400 strong, but to date only four have been built. The first car went to Tesla Motors chairman and chief financier Elon Musk, while car #2 is earmarked for forced-out co-founder Martin Eberhard who has delayed delivery of his Tesla Roadster until its custom pain job is ready. Car #4 has been spotted at the Top Marques Monaco show with U2 frontman Bono behind the wheel, while car #3 should be on its way to an actual customer's garage.
Gallery: Tesla Motors Flagship Store - L.A.
[Source: AutoblogGreen, Photos by Vince Bucci/Getty]
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Cray 11:14PM (5/02/2008)
LOL, look at the criticism here. What happens in a year or two they have another model? I believe they mentioned working on a family sedan by 2010.
You gotta start somewhere,and most business no matter what the industry they are in, don't break even until 5-7 years later. What would you have them do? advertise their car via paid TV ads in 3am in morning with Ron Popeil...."But wait, there's more!" and "Now how much would you pay?" proceeds to add an extra battery charger followed by the dramatically lower actual price of the car. How serious would you take Telsa if they did such a thing?
You also can't expect an upstart to roll out 3 or 4 different models with all vary degrees of prices on opening day. They just don't have the capital for that, especially if the consumers reject the first offerings of all the initial models.
I think they are doing the right thing, starting with one car and building their brand, through marketing and good hospitality.
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jake 3:58AM (5/03/2008)
Yeah I don't think most of the people get what kind of clients they want to cater to and how they want to present their company. They specifically chose this scheme to show they are doing things differently and that is why they didn't hire commissioned sales people. They want their customers to feel relaxed and not pushed to buy a car, and if you have been following this company, a lot of their advertising is actually by reporters who like to report on this car, by word of mouth too, and a few events, no commercials. Think about it, how many startups can get over 900 preorders on a $100k product even before one production model has gone out; pretty amazing.
So I don't agree with what one commenter said about how this kind of dealership would cause the people to push sales of cars; this is actually what traditional dealerships do because they are on commission. We'll see if it works out, but it's by no means too early because they are making production cars already and it would be dumb to not even have a dealership out when you start making production cars. For the other people asking, this store also has a service center so that's also part of the reason why they want to open it. The first 100 are the signature cars, so I assume most of the early buyers are the more famous ones who also live in CA, so they would be nearest to this service center. All in all, makes sense for them to open it now.
why not the LS2LS7? 2:29AM (5/03/2008)
#9 on the list tells me that #8 is George Clooney and that Sergei Brin and Eric Schmidt (founders of Google) are above Clooney, making them either 4 & 5, 5 & 6 or 6 & 7.
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simianspeedster 3:07AM (5/03/2008)
As someone who worked in and around the dot com boom, I gotta' say that this looks and smells an awful lot like "dot-comism" and I predict this company will go boom (or get bought out at some point for pennies on the dollar).
Expensive, cool office space? CHECK
Sell-labeled revolutionary new business model? CHECK
No tangible product to sell? CHECK
Look at the history of "different" car companies that were once new to America like Volkswagen and Subaru and have since flourished. One of the first things these brands did to establish a presence in America was strike partnerships with existing distribution channels, not try to break the mold by opening expensive new solo dealerships and changing the entire auto business model.
Tesla is already taking enough of a risk engineering and selling an unproven technology. Why exacerbate the problem and decrease their chances of succeeding financially by trying to re-invent the entire auto business model at once? Start with the product, then let the changes to the business model unfold. Hubris!!!
-SimianSpeedster
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big L 11:21AM (5/03/2008)
it is the "Volt"...I wonder if GM will buy out Tesla and say here is the "Volt" as promised.
Beautiful car, so was the Tucker.
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big L 11:22AM (5/03/2008)
oh yeah, I hope the Tesla succeeds and they will make a truck engine or version.
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accelerating_cubicle 5:09PM (5/03/2008)
Yep their business model is for the affluent, at $100,000 a pop who can they actually target????
The Ford Taurus crowd? The Chevy Malibu crowd? It's obvious that they are following the Ferrari, Lamborghini model. Since they have no economy of scale yet.
If they eventually go chapter 11 SO WHAT???? Its more about pushing for an evolution of auto technology.
Too bad GM killed the EV-1. Now some new up starts are stealing the lime-light. And have pre-sold cars with a waiting list. So now the Tesla roadster has the deep pockets wanting one to be cool and environmental at the same time. Win win in my book. Thumbing your nose at gas stations??? Priceless.
Anyhow, its ironic this car should of been the new Kitt car. Instead of an ancient gas guzzling internal combustion engine. What's high tech about the Ford Mustang??? NOTHING. Its laughable.
Welcome to the new generation of propulsion. Gas stations days are numbered. And I look forward to it.
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curtis kreutzberg 7:59PM (5/03/2008)
A very expensive coal burner that wont go very far. Color me unimpressed.
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Vanderleun 11:43PM (5/03/2008)
Tesla: The DeLorean of the 21st Century.
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nick 2:17PM (5/04/2008)
custom "pain" job. no wonder Leno never runs out of material
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