Dealers

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Tesla's headquarters in Palo Alto, CA with a couple of colleagues. Personally, it was the highlight of my week-long business trip in California. To see individuals talking about and planning for the emergence of electric vehicles was very motivating and stimulating. The team we met was engaging, smart, and well-read on the market.

Tesla, for those who don't know much about them, is about building electric vehicles for today and tomorrow. And not golf carts, mind you. Really fast and attractive EVs. Right now, they have a Roadster which is one fun ride (see pic of a couple being "juiced up" - we rode in the orange one in the back of the line - too fun!). Later, they are planning for their Model S Sedan which will be built in the former NUUMI plant where Toyota and GM previously built vehicles.

As Tesla refines their technology to apply it to a global marketplace, their outreach efforts will grow. I've no doubt this enthusiastic company can delight owners and hopefully work the magic of social media, lead management to drive online and offline traffic to their dealer network. And once driven to a store, we understand owners will drive these models like no other vehicle they've had in their driveway. Can anyone say, "Yes I'll pay north of $100k for a plug-in!"?? They sell what they produce. Demand is good. Let's keep watching.

Posted by Lonnie Miller, Vice President, Marketing & Industry Analysis, Polk (06.04.2010)