3Victoria
Active Member
Gee, I had thought the free market was the American way. Bank rolling by dealerships doesn't sound like democracy at its finest.
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"Consumers prefer dealers over Tesla model"
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Barklikeadog
Active Member
America is not a free market economy, it is a mixed market economy.
America is also a republic.
Barklikeadog
Active Member
That is a generic statement which applies to the attitude of wiping dealerships off the map.
Of course those people and their 'stores' are local. I think Tesla needs to open up thousands of service centers
and begin franchising because of volume. That is what their future holds, and that is supporting local business.
I don't think there's any way Tesla will start franchising. Their leadership has talked about the issues with that over and over again, and about how they almost did it in the roadster timeframe before they realized the downsides. At this point, I believe Tesla would rather fail than franchise - not that I think they'll fail.
You're certainly correct that Tesla will need to open a lot more center and expand the ones they have to make the Model 3 rollout at the level that they are hoping to, but I'm sure they'll all be company owned and operated.
Where did this "America is a Republic" meme come from? Do people not know what a republic is? All a republic is is any form of government where there is not a monarch as a head of state. Yes, the US is a republic. That doesn't mean it's not a democracy.
It's a democratically elected representative republic. Democratic election of Representatives is the means of selecting the government, which doesn't have a monarch.
Phil Seastrand
Member
I believe this was just stated to make the existing dealership lobby more comfortable. I don't think he ever intended to go through with it.
When a "car selling location" is opened, someone has to front the capital, pay the utilities, lease, employee salaries, etc. How does a licensed dealership do this for less than Tesla can? I argue that Tesla can actually do it cheaper since they don't have to make a profit on top of the profit made selling the car. I see no reason that Tesla can't open all the sales centers that it needs as the volume increases.
No, that's not what he said. The media only reported his answer and not the question being answered. The question was if Tesla might need dealerships in order to sell in all 50 states and he said yes--but that was in the context of state laws and regulations, he was not stating his preference or making a prediction.
I posted this in the Bolt thread, but just found this one and thinks it applies better here:
So I called the biggest GM dealership in the Dallas/Ft.Worth metroplex yesterday and it took me three "hold on, let me connect you...." until I finally got someone who knew about the Bolt. I have to say, for the dealership association all up in arms about the way Tesla wants to sell it's cars, they failed on this instance. Every, I mean EVERY, GM dealership should already know and be ready for people to call about it and immediately transfer to the right person. Wanna know why?????
Because I can walk into a Tesla gallery and without fear, know that all of the workers know about EVs and their brand.
So I called the biggest GM dealership in the Dallas/Ft.Worth metroplex yesterday and it took me three "hold on, let me connect you...." until I finally got someone who knew about the Bolt. I have to say, for the dealership association all up in arms about the way Tesla wants to sell it's cars, they failed on this instance. Every, I mean EVERY, GM dealership should already know and be ready for people to call about it and immediately transfer to the right person. Wanna know why?????
Because I can walk into a Tesla gallery and without fear, know that all of the workers know about EVs and their brand.
Barklikeadog
Active Member
from hybridcars:
Tesla Motors has long made its case for its factory direct sales model, auto dealers have said Tesla cannot scale up to meet the volume, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has now said dealers may be correct.
In a face-to-face interview Saturday with Musk, Autoline Daily’s John McElroy asked how Tesla could grow to the capacity to which it aspires, as we quote McElroy:
“When I asked him if he could really scale up his retail model in all 50 states of the U.S. and asked how they would handle maintenance and repairs,” said McElroy in a video broadcast, “Musk admitted that relying exclusively on company stores probably was not enough.”
“We may need a hybrid system,” said Musk to McElroy,” with a combination of our own stores and some dealer franchises.”
In a closed door regulatory meeting in fall 2013, two witnesses cited Tesla’s Legislative Director Jim Chen who told a room full of industry stakeholders Tesla only means to sell factory direct until it reaches an undefined minimum volume threshold.
At the time it was unclear whether Chen/Tesla meant such a thing, but this otherwise confirms what dealer associations have said, namely, that Tesla cannot likely grow the whole business to support Model 3 and beyond to the scale it wants with all that on its shoulders.
shrspeedblade
Rideshare Monkey
In a further study, they also determined that dental patients prefer root canals without novacaine or anesthesia!.....
Barklikeadog
Active Member
Could you point that out? Because I am not seeing the word 'selling' in that question. They are talking about scale and service.
Speaking for myself...
I may never buy a new car again if I have to buy from a sales model other than Tesla's. Just sayin'.
"Scale up his retail model" is another way of asking about selling, isnt it? What else does retail mean if not sales?
Regarding service, the manufacturers and the auto dealer cartel (I suspect you hate that term) have been blocking Tesla from opening service centers in some states as a means to limit competition from Tesla. They're trying to force Tesla to use their model. If Tesla has to do so it's because of those outside forces, not its preference of a business model.
diamond.g
Active Member
It would be an interesting experiment if Tesla were to use franchised dealerships, but sell them the car for the same price as they would sell to an end user. Then see if the dealership is really able to turn a profit, knowing the customer can go to another state (or online) and build to order for the same price.
And I'm seeing the word 'may', which means they're not planning on it. If Tesla's planning on something Elon Musk will let the world know.
Tesla will certainly need more service centers, but that's a matter of scale. The service centers handle prep, delivery and repair. The aim, of course, is to work on reliability in order to have as few of them as possible and lower the cost of the staff. There is no doubt that Tesla _wants_ to be able to have their own service centers, because Tesla either wants to capture the profit, or move it to the car. The problem is that laws get in the way of being able to choose the best model, which leads to the MIchigan suit. The more important element of that could be overturning the ban on service centers rather than the ban on sales.
The logical solution for Tesla long term is to form an alliance with either Nissan or Chevrolet in the US. These are the 2 companies with the highest number of trained high-voltage technicians. Nissan makes the most sense because many dealers have DCFC available, and ... They have the most experience with repairs to the high voltage systems.
Modern auto service technician go by a flowchart guide on a computer screen with the latest information. It's a step-by-step procedure that is adhered to religiously. The car itself and the dataport is now the diagnostician. The mechanic is the skilled hands.
Modern auto service technician go by a flowchart guide on a computer screen with the latest information. It's a step-by-step procedure that is adhered to religiously. The car itself and the dataport is now the diagnostician. The mechanic is the skilled hands.
I disagree. I doubt. The official statements from Tesla (mostly Elon) are more along the lines of "service is a means to an end: keeping customer happy and cars functional" not as a means to "capture profit".
I wonder if Tesla has considered going into problem cities and buying an indepent repair shop. For example, they could buy one in Richmond va, operate it under the existing liscense still repairing ices, add on a Tesla bay, and put up additional discrete sinage saying Tesla repair. As long as they continue servicing current customers, there is nothing the dealers can do about it. The existing business will support things until Tesla business picks up. Then raise ice rates until the business drops off. Purists might object to touching ices, but it is silly not to do what works.
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