New Dallas Service Center, Near Love Field

[purplewalt]

I agree with virtually everything you say, except this. No way Love Field is more premium than DFW for flights in and out of the plex. It's simply not. It's a PITA for everyone except Dallasites (Dallasians? Dallasers?)

Everything else you say makes a lot of sense. However, it's less convenient to me personally.

Perhaps you are correct.
REGIONAL flights, from larger airports, Love Field is the best way into Dallas (not the Metroplex).
Midland/Odessa, Lubbock, Amarillo, OKC, Tulsa, Little Rock, are all available from SWA to Love.
And unless major headway is in the works, Dallas Service Center will be the hob for a lot of those deliveries and Service.
I am looking down the road to Model 3...
How can Tesla successfully deliver cars at the rate they will need to in 2020 to hit their stated targets?
AND a lot of those new owners may NOT all live inside the Metroplex, but in the REGION.

Yes, AA flies smaller planes out of DFW to Tyler and other East Texas locations, and to Northern Louisiana (Shreveport and Monroe) and Jackson, Mississppi.
I guess there is no perfect airport and routing that addresses everything, at least not yet.

 

[redi]

If you look where the Premium Auto Dealers are in Dallas (up and down Lemmon), they are ALL within a mile or so of that location.

With the greatest courtesy , just because the legacy dealers chose this place 30-40 years ago doesn't make it a great spot in 2016. IMO, the location as the other poster put it, is indeed a nightmare to get to any day of the week.

But I see the points in your post as valid too. Near DFW airport would have been a better compromise for all areas of the metroplex, and a fly-in option for most out-of-towners. Most of those swanky dealers are @ DFW too (MB, Lexus, Infinity, etc) with even easier delivery access for the trucks.

 

[Electroman]

If you have dealerships at multiple locations then having one in Love Field is fine. It caters to the clientele in that neighborhood.

But if this is the only one in the DFW area then it is a poor choice. Farmers branch and Love field are a bit too close to each other.

 

[purplewalt]

With the greatest courtesy , just because the legacy dealers chose this place 30-40 years ago doesn't make it a great spot in 2016. IMO, the location as the other poster put it, is indeed a nightmare to get to any day of the week.

But I see the points in your post as valid too. Near DFW airport would have been a better compromise for all areas of the metroplex, and a fly-in option for most out-of-towners. Most of those swanky dealers are @ DFW too (MB, Lexus, Infinity, etc) with even easier delivery access for the trucks.

I have lived in Dallas a very LONG time, since JFK.
I remember when there were a few car dealers, and then almost no new car dealers except maybe VW and a Chevy dealer on Lemmon Avenue.
And lots of used car lots.
There used to actually be several cars dealers in downtown Dallas, where the Art Museum is now located and multiple blocks of dealers in current Uptown.
Eventually, most of the car dealers went where the land was cheap, out by LBJ Freeway, and maybe in the mid-Cities.

Well, the tide goes out, and then the tide comes in.

Every major premium brand is now there on Lemmon Avenue with the possible exceptions of Acura and Jaguar.
BMW bought and refurbished the former existing Lincoln-Mercury dealership, it moved in across from Lexus, Mercedes and Porsche.
And brought Mini-Cooper with them.

20 years ago, none of those manufacturers were there, maybe as few as 15 years.
MB moved over from its former Oak Lawn location.
BMW has been there like 7 years tops, moved down from LBJ and I-35.

There is a huge financial gold-mine in the people who live in the Park Cities, and areas immediately adjacent to it, Preston Hollow, etc.
Some of these homes are literally estates.
Multi-acre estates inside the LBJ Loop.

Look at Highland Park Village, Preston Center and NorthPark Mall, and the folks that work around those hubs, they shop and dine there too.
If someone is going to look for an up-market car, why would you allow your competition to go unchallenged, and not be in the same vicinity?

Marketing 101 says "Go to where your core customers (future and existing) are", especially if you are not prone to spending major dollar$ on traditional advertising during televised sporting events and news broadcasts.
The Model S and Model X are not intended to be marketed to just everybody, they are very much still a niche market commodity.
When the trickle down does comes in the way of Gen 3, it might make more sense to have a second and a third location in DFW, probably close to the Museum District in Fort Worth, maybe one more somewhere in Arlington (close to Ranger Stadium and AT&T Cowboys Stadium).

Yes, there are some swanky dealers out by DFW/Grapevine, mostly because the land values are still relatively cheap for the acreages involved and the frontage rights to the hiways.

Face it, there is a lot of traffic in North Texas.
Everywhere.

And at the rate people keep moving here, it won't be getting better anytime soon. Like NEVER.
So just grin and bear it.
Let the market decide.

 

[bollar]

If you're going to build where your customers are, that would suggest Plano/McKinney, NE Tarrant or Dallas, in that order. At least they picked one of the three, though it appears to be less convenient.

 

[redi]

I'd rather have more locations than bigger locations. In the Model 3 timeframe the DFW metro area probably ought to have at least 4 Service Centers. We could use one now in northeast Tarrant county (Southlake/Grapevine/Keller area) and possibly Collin county (Plano/Frisco).

Too bad, since Tesla does not seem to have the desire or resources to build from scratch, there is an empty small "stealership" building on the north side of 114/121 just west of the Main St exit in Grapevine. This location has been sitting unused for maybe 5 years too, probably available for a song with great access to a number of major arterial highways that converge in this area 121/114, 360, 635. Great spot for everyone within, say, a 15+ radius of DFW airport. Maybe 2 miles from DFW itself. No nightmare traffic jams either as the entire interchange there was just expanded last year.

Hope to see some future location like this (hint read this Tesla ) since the metroplex is much more than old Dallas, as indicated in Bollar's post above.

 

[TexasEV]

An advantage Tesla has over dealerships is that stores and service centers can be in different locations (and usually are). Stores in high-rent, high-traffic upscale areas where the potential customers can see it, and service centers with a much higher square foot requirement can be in less expensive locations.

 

[wart]

An advantage Tesla has over dealerships is that stores and service centers can be in different locations (and usually are). Stores in high-rent, high-traffic upscale areas where the potential customers can see it, and service centers with a much higher square foot requirement can be in less expensive locations.

Makes sense, and I know that's how Tesla has done it in the past, but the model seems to be changing. The new North Houston location has both store and service center, and a Supercharger too.

 

[redi]

The new North Houston location has both store and service center, and a Supercharger too.

Exactly. Had the Love location not been buried into for all practical purposes a city center and put at a less congested intersection of interstates, a supercharger convenient to travelers visiting the DFW area would have made a lot of sense.

Not wanting to drift the thread, but I would have been happy to give up my supercharger "rights" to a local DFW supercharger [if Tesla chose to implement this capability] so that visitors could find a convenient and quick location for quick fill-ups centrally located on relatively congestion-free highway location. Tesla owners visiting here trying get around this large metroplex for a few days have lousy quick-and-free charging options for top-ups (same goes for Austin, for example). A central supercharger, just like Houston now has, would have made a big difference. Love Field would have been a sub-optimal location for a supercharger for this purpose anyway. Visiting DFW for a while for out-of-towners (away from their home charging set-up) can be a real range- and charge-management challenge. Better vision for a new service center could have fixed this.

 

[jaysquyres]

They need 2 more months (because construction is taking way too long,) but they applied for a Certificate of Occupancy on Jan 14, 2016:

 

[taurusking]

Too bad, since Tesla does not seem to have the desire or resources to build from scratch, there is an empty small "stealership" building on the north side of 114/121 just west of the Main St exit in Grapevine. This location has been sitting unused for maybe 5 years too, probably available for a song with great access to a number of major arterial highways that converge in this area 121/114, 360, 635. Great spot for everyone within, say, a 15+ radius of DFW airport. Maybe 2 miles from DFW itself. No nightmare traffic jams either as the entire interchange there was just expanded last year.

Hope to see some future location like this (hint read this Tesla ) since the metroplex is much more than old Dallas, as indicated in Bollar's post above.

This would have been great spot for the new service center... :biggrin:...We could leave our cars in the parking lot and catch flights if we have to and return back to the big parking lot and have supercharger right then and there for us to charge.

 

[zwede]

I asked my contact at the SC (my car is in for some work today) about valet, and he said that as far as he knew existing customers that are currently covered by valet service would continue being covered after the Love field move.

 

[purplewalt]

This would have been great spot for the new service center... :biggrin:...We could leave our cars in the parking lot and catch flights if we have to and return back to the big parking lot and have supercharger right then and there for us to charge.

There are six EV parking spots in the Love Field Parking Garage, Section B Parking.
They have spots for four cars to charge, so you will not be left in the lurch after a two week vacation.

Last Tuesday, all six spots were full when I arrived: three Volts, one Leaf, one i3, one Model S (not mine).
East Coast snow storm and cancelled flights might have contributed to the number of EVs there.

 

[bollar]

There are six EV parking spots in the Love Field Parking Garage, Section B Parking.
They have spots for four cars to charge, so you will not be left in the lurch after a two week vacation.

Last Tuesday, all six spots were full when I arrived: three Volts, one Leaf, one i3, one Model S (not mine).
East Coast snow storm and cancelled flights might have contributed to the number of EVs there.

They aren't always full? It feels like people plug in before they fly out and unplug at the end of the week.

 

[purplewalt]

They aren't always full? It feels like people plug in before they fly out and unplug at the end of the week.

Very seldom are all six spaces taken, at least on Tuesday morning early, or when I return in the afternoon.

A couple of times there were SUVs and vans/trucks parked in the slots.
And eventually somebody decided to start ticketing the Non-EVs parked in those spaces.

 

[jaysquyres]

I think they are opening tomorrow. Here are pics:
View attachment 167517 View attachment 167516 View attachment 167517 View attachment 167519 View attachment 167520

 

[mark]

Thanks Jay - looks great.
Too bad there are no superchargers out front.
Any word on whether the Farmers Branch center will stay open and if not when it closes?

 

[purplewalt]

Thanks for the pics of the new facility Jay.

My understanding is they would start the move down from Farmers Branch to Love Field in two weeks.
There will be two cars inside to look at plus one of the chassis/battery skateboard.
Shop will have 9 lifts plus one unit for alignment, current facility has 3 lifts and one alignment rig.

The Contractors will be adding fire protection Sprinklers to an area behind the wall (will be used for storage), so that late-starting work is holding up part of the move.

Eventually, the current Farmers Branch alignment rig may move down to Love Field, then they will have two there.


NO Supercharger. Not enough available power, and a transformer would cost too much (six figures).


Farmers Branch was swamped on Thursday: could only find one parking space.
The entire lot behind the adjacent building was bumper-to-bumper full.
And they have the other building across the street for other car storage/receiving/prep.

They have 21 Loaners at that location (yes, they are that busy).

 

[jerry33]

Farmers Branch was swamped on Thursday: could only find one parking space.
The entire lot behind the adjacent building was bumper-to-bumper full.
And they have the other building across the street for other car storage/receiving/prep.

They have 21 Loaners at that location (yes, they are that busy).

When I was there for annual service a couple of weeks ago, there were no parking spaces.

 

[jaysquyres]

The Certificate of Occupancy was completed on Wed Mar 15, 2016. This means the work is complete and they can legally move in. The contractor can still work, but at least we know they are allowed to move in - that is why I went by yesterday to take pics.

The contractor is the one that told me the Super Chargers were going in (hidden from us in Phase 2,) in the future. How did he know this? There is no reason for him to make up a story.