jalopnik.com — Tesla, the makers of the electric roadster, will be opening up five "customer service centers" across the country this year, where you'll be able to kick the tires and check out the electric sleds yourself! The key point is that they're NOT dealerships in the traditional sense of the term -- so no pushy salespeople...hopefully.
Mar 16, 2007 View in Crawl 4
w3bsmithMar 16, 2007
I've been looking forward to these cars coming out here in the states. I'm saving up for a purchase in 2008 hopefully, and I'm far from rich.Btw, in reference to the NY comment, how often do you drive in NY? When I lived there it was from my house to the parking garage closest to decent public trans, and public trans from there on.For me this is a perfect car since I rarely drive more than 30 miles in a day. Get a Civic for those longer distances.
psygnisfiveMar 16, 2007
I just have very unpopular opinions among the electric car fans, don't worry. ;)
bcimheMar 17, 2007
the obvious reason that tesla isn't going to use dealerships is that they are already more expensive than ther internal cobustion competition. there is no law that says you must use dealerships. oems are able to buy dealerships once they sell them. a dealership is an exclusive right to sell a product in a geographic area. the reason the oem can't just start selling direct is that they have a binding agreement with someone who paid a lot for that exclusivity and invested a lot of money in the store and inventory. saturn has bought many of their dealerships onl to find that they suck at sales and service.surely 95% of you already knew this? that being said i want a tesla and it has nothing to do with the cost of running it. it's an incredible machine. it's quiet, it's beautiful. i sincerely hope that we find cleaner ways to produce electricity and make the autos more efficient. and i want to f'ing fly on a straightaway.bc
bigslackerMar 17, 2007
Yep...thank GM for that one. Tesla has come up with zero innovations so far except really good marketing.
bigslackerMar 17, 2007
I suppose if you're oil change is 70% of the vehicle cost. Mine sure isn't. I'm not sure people realize how much these batteries cost.
bigslackerMar 17, 2007
...and cost you about $100K for enough to run a car for short range and only last a few years. Just price out what your laptop battery costs and multiply amp-hours. There's no conspiracy on battery technology either no matter how fruit loops hope and pray there was and physics wasn't the problem.
plaistedMar 20, 2007
An amazing idea to keep the "dealerships" or what ever Tesla is calling them privately owned. A new approach to selling cars for a new concept car. Great idea and I'll be going to the New York location sometime once its built to check it out. If I had 100k to blow I'd do it with the Tesla car...
trev0006Sep 27, 2007
We are working on getting a test drive from them and write a full review for everyone. I wounder what tires they will use to be energy efficient. Usually the soft compound and wide tires are not good for efficiency, but they claim this car will handle like a sports car. <a class="user" href="http://www.discountpartcenter.com/">http://www.discountpartcenter.com/</a>
eedebezMar 16, 2008
Try NEXT year. Press releases and public buzz say they've got a 4 door sedan in the works and have committed to a very aggressive development schedule. Probably 2 years until you have 2 types of cars to pick from in them fancy new stores!
eedebezMar 16, 2008
Dugg down either means someone is:1. Posting ignorant BS or 2. Posting comments that don't contribute to the topic. Like this question of yours jesuschrysler - it doesn't contribute to the story - so it gets dugg down so that it doesn't waste our screen space. Pitch in something interesting and you'll get dugg up! :)