Silicon-Valley electric car company Tesla opened its first dealership last week at one of the busiest intersections in Los Angeles. It’s too bad none of that foot traffic will turn into sales, at least for a while. The first 600 Tesla Roadsters have already been sold, but only four have actually been produced. A transmission glitch which forced the company to completely change the type of transmission used has led to a delay which will keep the first 300 cars from production until at least December.
With another 400 folks on the waiting list for the $109,000, all-electric sports car, we’re not sure why the company would waste the rent check on a 10,000 square-foot store that cost $2 million to build.
There is an interesting aspect to the store though. It is a company store, not a true dealership, and salesmen are employees of Tesla and don’t work on commission. The company says it’s basing all of its dealerships on Apple’s successful stores.