Norbert
TSLA will win
To educate, and also to familiarize people not only with the idea of electric cars, but also with the fact that they are real, that you can actually sit in them and see the touchscreen working etc.
Even if the Model S could be sold just by media reports, word of mouth, website info, plus test drives... the Bluestar isn't that far away, and preparing a 200,000-per-year market needs good preparation. People who go to an auto mall probably want to buy a car soon, and may not have the time it takes to inform and familiarize themselves with the concept of EVs. I couldn't imagine myself buying an EV just a few days or weeks after the first time I heard of their existence. It took me quite some time to get to that point. So they'll buy a more common car type, and then they already have one for the next 10 years or so. Whereas a store in an area with high foot traffic of more general nature allows people to gradually acquaint themselves with the possibility of buying an electric car.
Even if the Model S could be sold just by media reports, word of mouth, website info, plus test drives... the Bluestar isn't that far away, and preparing a 200,000-per-year market needs good preparation. People who go to an auto mall probably want to buy a car soon, and may not have the time it takes to inform and familiarize themselves with the concept of EVs. I couldn't imagine myself buying an EV just a few days or weeks after the first time I heard of their existence. It took me quite some time to get to that point. So they'll buy a more common car type, and then they already have one for the next 10 years or so. Whereas a store in an area with high foot traffic of more general nature allows people to gradually acquaint themselves with the possibility of buying an electric car.