How Tesla plans to short circuit new-car dealers | Motoramic - Yahoo! Autos Interesting tidbit: "More customers file complaints about auto dealers with consumer protection agencies than any other business..."
I hope that Tesla is open to doing whatever works. (by works I mean sell 20k+ cars year after year) If the retail no pressure no inventory deal works then fine. But if it doesn't then they should try something else. I personally think they would sell many times more cars with a real lot and an inventory of cars you can test drive and buy on the spot. Such a beautiful, high performance, exhilarating drive will without a doubt cause an emotional response that opens wallets on the spot. If you only test drive and have to order for two month delivery then you have time to think about things like can I make it to grandma's, do I want to spend the money on a charger setup, are 21" wheels really practical, and on and on.
But it also gives you time to get a charging station (or outlet) installed in your garage, to think through the purchase. It would be a disaster for EVs in general for people to buy on a whim & then realize it's not the right car for them. Pros and cons either way.
If Tesla sold the cars to dealerships, then the cars would be much more expensive, since the dealers would need to pay for their inventory cost, and have their own profit margin. For the next 12 - 18 months, Tesla is just trying to keep up with demand. Every car that rolls off the assembly line is immediately sold. So far, so good.
They will do this. Heck they did it w/ Roadsters. Our car was a "spec" car that was in final prep at Menlo. They also allowed us to browse the inventory of the other stores and they would ship cars around. They also sold their demo cars at a discount. Tesla would love to have a permanent 3-4 month backlog of orders but it's just not going to happen. So they'll fill gaps in the production line w/ spec cars that will be available for people to purchase.
A significant number of purchases of cars are made due to the unexpected loss of a vehicle, such as an accident. Even if they had a small inventory of in a variety of configurations so that delivery wouldn't take more than a week or so, that would make a huge difference. It seems like they would ultimately need to move in that direction to keep the ball rolling. It never occurred to me that they would intentionally not go that direction. One might think that they would need to accommodate impulse buyers in some way too. I never imagined that they would remain a custom car builder forever.
Thanks Guys. I'm glad to hear they've carried inventory in the past. I noticed that many people (myself included) respond to actual examples. As in, the Model S they see is the one they want. I think getting a HPC or 14-50 plug installed would be no problem. I can imagine electricians would line up to be on Tesla's installer list. I know salesmen have a bad rep, but at the end of the day (or quarter) you better have moved some cars! I know they are trying to mimic the Apple store, but they really aren't. I can walk into the Apple store, test drive an iPad, and walk out with *mine*.
Carrying inventory must be really expensive and leads to dealerships which is exactly what Tesla wants to avoid. Maybe they'll build 1-2 of the most popular configurations to keep at each store for the impulse shopper.
They can start and advertising campaign. But Model S on street is a rolling ad. The car will sell itself, with a little help from the owners. If someone buys a Model S on the spot and later feels remorse on his decision, this will add to the cloud of bad things hovering in the public mind regarding EVs. Please not. Right now Tesla needs every customer to praise his car and make sure everyone listening understands the conceptual change, the advantages, and the limitations of driving electric.
Nope , not happening. Tesla cannot be a dealer and then as soon as you have the middlemen, Tesla loses control of the sales process as well as losing revenue. They'll have cars at the stores but for test drives. The only way Tesla would be a dealer is if state laws changed dramatically. There's been talk of NADA or states challenging in court, but I don't think they'll do it for fear of their whole cartel collapsing. They might miss out on impulse sales, but the proportion to loss of margin is insignificant.
Well, they've already DONE it with Roadster's so it's a little late to say that it won't happen. Perhaps they won't be able to in some states like Tejas but if the laws allow it they will build spec cars and stash them in stores or service centers. It just makes sense from a production line standpoint as it costs them very little to plug holes in the order queue.