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UPDATE: On March 10, Tesla announced that it was changing course on its plans to shut down all showrooms and intends to keep “significantly more stores open.” Read the story here.
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Those looking to test drive a brand new Tesla may have to buy the car first. The Palo Alto-based electric automaker announced on Thursday that it plans to shut down its showrooms and shift sales to online only as part of the company’s strategy to cut costs so it can offer its newly launched mid-range Model 3 version for $35,000.
Tesla currently has 378 showrooms worldwide, including two in Palo Alto, where potential buyers can test drive the company’s electric cars or at least get an up-close look at new models. After the showrooms close, potential car owners will most likely have to purchase a vehicle online before they can take one for a drive, according to the company’s website.
“A test drive prior to purchase isn’t needed. You can now return a car within 7 days or 1,000 miles for a full refund. Quite literally, you could buy a Tesla, drive several hundred miles for a weekend road trip with friends and then return it for free,” according to the announcement on the company’s website.
The company will be winding down many of its showrooms over the next few months, with a small number of those in high-traffic locations remaining as galleries, showcases and Tesla information centers, according to the company’s website.
A company spokeswoman could not comment on whether the Palo Alto showrooms at Stanford Shopping Center and on El Camino Real, near West Charleston Road, are among those that will remain open or how many employees will be impacted.
According to California’s Employment Development Department, the company filed a notice in January that it would be making 78 permanent layoffs in Palo Alto before the end of this month. The company spokeswoman told the Weekly that those staff reductions are not related to the closing of its showrooms. The company announced the layoffs in January, she said, as part of its goal to shrink its full-time employee head count by 7 percent globally. With the cost savings, the company plans to focus on increasing production of its mid-range Model 3.
The Stanford showroom, in particular, has provided local Tesla car owners, as well as the curious, a sneak peek at the company’s electric cars. It was here where Tesla officially unveiled its Model 3 for the first time in January 2018, attracting a crowd outside its doors waiting to get a hands-on look at the sedan. Many, like Stanford University employee Jean Nguyen, had been waiting for months for the opportunity to check out the Model 3 in person since putting down deposits on the car nearly two years earlier when the company began taking reservations. After the January 2018 unveiling, Tesla planned to bring Model 3 display and test-drive vehicles to showrooms across the country.
The release of the Telsa Model 3 mid-range version has been long anticipated. The company started limited production of the Model 3 in 2017, but only made high-end versions of the vehicle with an average asking price of $55,000 when the first batch rolled off the production line. On Thursday, the company announced that the Tesla Model 3 is now available starting at $35,000.
Sketchy company with a sketchy CEO
Great news as the showroom space could probably be used for something far more worthwhile & appealing…perhaps another high-end boutique. j/k of course.
Would also like to see fewer Teslas on the road as well…Tesla drivers have a certain arrogance about them & it is reflective in their driving mannerisms.
Tesla drivers have replaced BMW drivers when it comes to a certain driver mentality.
This is interesting. We had house guests recently, a couple who did many of the Bay Area touristy things, and of course the wife wanted to go shopping at Stanford and the husband was not interested in shopping. He dutifully accompanied his wife and spent most of the time in the Tesla store while she visited the stores that interested her. I think she spent less than $100 in the stores she visited and he of course spent nothing in Tesla, they bought coffee and had lunch. In the end the visit to Stanford was one of the highlights for both of them, husband included. Taking his selfie inside a Tesla was his talking point plus the knowledge he acquired about EVs, making this a his and hers outing that proved worthwhile to both.
I will not spend thousands of dollars on a vehicle without test driving first. Tesla apparently wants me to put down $35,000 or more before I will even be allowed to test drive their car. Forget about it. I can walk into Anderson Honda and test drive a new Honda in five minutes.
Tesla is headed for bankruptcy if they continue this awful plan.
> Tesla is headed for bankruptcy if they continue this awful plan.
No loss except for maybe those who own stock in the company.
Bankruptcy = good for them & a long time coming. Seeing fewer Teslas on the road would be a refreshing change of scenery.
Sounds like a bad idea to me.
I have been looking at Tesla’s and have been to the showroom at Stanford. My next step will be test-driving with a friend who owns one. Not sure what I will do now.
We are also looking at a Chevy Bolt. While Tesla is my favorite, it is not the only game in town.
Bob
Tesla drivers- drive it like you stole it.
from the PA Weekly…
“The Palo Alto-based electric automaker announced on Thursday that it plans to shut down its showrooms and shift sales to online only…”
Does that mean one can buy a used Tesla on EBay?
BMW and Benz has admitted that Tesla has taken some business away from them with their EV approach. I’m hoping that European cars can integrate Japanese reliability with Tesla environmental consciousness.
That being said, EVs are not the most environmentally friendly, as they’d have you to be!
Also, getting rid of the showroom is not a good idea but all that hallucinating from you-know-what usage got to Musk…
> That being said, EVs are not the most environmentally friendly, as they’d have you to be!
Agreed. Recycling dead batteries is just about as bad as dealing with 02 & CO emissions.
Teslas are so ubiquitous on the peninsula that they have become mundane.
These cars seem to appeal to high-tech types who don’t know how to drive.
I have not noticed a different driving attitude among Tesla drivers compared to others.
I’m a 74 year old grandmother and I drive a Tesla M3. My Tesla is hands down the best car I’ve ever owned. I ordered it sight unseen the first day they were available. Not one single regret. And I am not an arrogant driver!
Before you make negative comments you should drive one—come take a spin in mine.
If you want to sit in a Tesla to check out visibility –or even take one for a test drive — WITHOUT a salesperson sitting over your shoulder, contact Acterra: https://www.acterra.org/goev
Acterra’s Karl Knapp GoEV! program has recruited volunteers who own Teslas (and other EV models) to offer rides and drives to potential EV buyers — all at no cost. EVs are the ride of the future — and that fossil free future is here NOW.
The next Acterra EV workshop and EV expo will be Wed. March 13 at the Millbrae Public Library, 6:30 to 8:00 pm. And there’s another in Menlo Park, on Saturday, March 16, 10 am to 12 noon at the Menlo Senior Center in Belle Haven, 100 Terminal Avenue.
You either love Teslas or despise them…there is no middle ground.
And until Tesla develops a winning race car program, no automotive enthusiast will take them seriously…except for those who can afford one & prefer a battery-operated car.
Gas + Oil + Tires = a real car. A Tesla is 1/3 car.
Besides, a professional car race with an all-electric car wouldn’t require much of a pit crew…just a 10 year-old kid to plug in the re-charger & the time involved to reach a full charge would automatically eliminate any chance of a Tesla finishing the race before the crowd went home. *L*
Tesla Automotive Race Team = an oxymoron
Teslas are best for skirting around commuter traffic lanes & ticking other drivers off.
^ Didn’t a Tesla roadster set speed and distance records? It’s still in orbit somewhere.
Did they also shut down their service departments, or will those be relocated to lower rent districts or possibly offered as internet only as well?
A lot of hatred for Tesla, probably by people who can’t afford to purchase a Tesla. I have owned a Porsche, Mercedes S series, a Lexus and a Jaguar, and my Tesla S is hands down the best of the lot, and it’s not even close. It’s simply the best car ever made, and I’m very grateful it does not need gas, tuneups and oil changes.
The comments here are amusing – thanks. I’m not a car person but I think Tesla has upped the game on electric vehicles, with the result that there are more on the market and it’s now clear that they do not have to be ugly or uncomfortable.
It’s really no big deal if both Palo Alto locations close; just ask a friend or neighbor if you can test drive their Tesla. I sometimes count Teslas (just for fun) when I travel around town and rarely see fewer than 15 in as many minutes. Looks to me like Tesla is, de facto, the official car of Palo Alto.
“A lot of hatred for Tesla, probably by people who can’t afford to purchase a Tesla…my Tesla S is hands down the best of the lot, and it’s not even close. It’s simply the best car ever made…”
I share your sentiments my friend. I too own an S Model because I can afford to & because I believe in low vehicle maintenance & environmental consciousness.
I drive to work every day from Fremont to Google headquarters in Mountain View & I cannot tell you how fortunate I feel to be driving my Tesla. It is a superior car for superior beings who appreciate the advances in modern technology.
> Tesla drivers have a certain arrogance about them & it is reflective in their driving mannerisms.
> I have not noticed a different driving attitude among Tesla drivers compared to others.
and then…
>> It is a superior car for superior beings who appreciate the advances in modern technology.
I have a Bolt, and I love it. No maintenance, great for the environment, “fuels” up in the garage, long range. I bought it because I want to encourage production of EVs at lower price points. Chevy is trying!
That said, I am grateful to all Tesla owners, and to everyone else who drives an EV. Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping to reduce our emissions. (And, yes, Teslas are way better than gas cars, esp when powered with the zero-emissions electricity that we have here. It takes typically 1-2 years of driving to zero out the additional production/recycling cost, including that of the battery.)
Moshat: “ It is a superior car for superior beings who appreciate the advances in modern technology.”
Really?
Google employee says “It is a superior car for superior beings.” When Ram first funded Google, he said Google was gonna set up a toll booth on the Internet. Does that make you superior?
“I believe in low vehicle maintenance & environmental consciousness.” – In that case you should have bought a Mercedes or a diesel. Did you not know that Tesla’s battery and car mfg process is so CO2-intense that it takes 5-10 years driving one just to break even vs efficient gas vehicles? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-16/the-dirt-on-clean-electric-cars BING it…
I’ve had my Tesla for over 5 years. I have solar panels that in my homes which produce more electricity than I consume. You are just wrong in your assumptions. Additionally, a Tesla does not need oil changes, and the various oil products that gas vehicles require for maintenance but Teslas don’t, are dirty products of the fossil industry that are highly contaminating and difficult to recycle.
“Moshat: “ It is a superior car for superior beings who appreciate the advances in modern technology.”
Someone is trolling 🙂
PAO really has become Reddit!
The comment about “superior beings” is nonsensical and extremely absurd. Tesla is a superior car, but it doesn’t need such comments to underline its superiority over other cars. “Superior beings” harks back to dark, scary times, and has no place in the 21st century.
I hope they shut down the service center in Palo Alto too. Their employees park in front of my house. They drive loud, souped up cars, blast their radios, dump their fast food wrappers in the gutters, sit and idle in their cars with their radios blaring early in the morning/late at night. Their trucks delivering cars block the Maybell and create hazards for the kids on their bicycles riding to Gunn and Fletcher. The company has the air of arrogance and entitlement.
> The comment about “superior beings” is nonsensical and extremely absurd. Tesla is a superior car, but it doesn’t need such comments to underline its superiority over other cars.
A symbol of the new wave of yuppies…some from abroad. Next up is the tiresome accolades towards other material status symbols…Rolexes, designer fashionwear + whatever else the newbies have discovered upon their arrival.
Class cannot be purchased.
The more electric cars and batteries there are running around, the more expensive the basic materials get. Also more and more are being used for grid storage either in homes or in massive storage projects. The scale of battery use becomes much larger. That means that it becomes more and more economic to recycle the batteries and close the cycle.
At some point it would need to be a requirement as it is now for batteries containing lead. We simply have to close as many cycles as possible. As soon as we use nature as a free dump economics get distorted as pricing funnels more and more to the free dump. The scale of man’s activities since the Industrial Revolution has made such activities increasingly dangerous and unwise.
Huge sums in R&D are being spent around the world to find better batteries also. It may be an error to try to make an electric too inexpensive just yet as it means the range will be too short for most people’s practical use. That is, making the cars less expensive faster than battery costs are decreasing may not be a good idea. Selling electrics with a less than 200 mile range is hard and the market smaller.
Electric vehicles are going forwards whether some people like them or not. Thanks to Tesla they are most developed here. If the US is unable to do that, a possibility, someone else will pick up quickly enough.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/mar/27/china-clean-air-indoor-quality-shanghai-cordis-hongqiao-filters
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/12/upshot/china-pollution-environment-longer-lives.html
> If the US is unable to do that, a possibility, someone else will pick up quickly enough.
Most likely a Chinese manufacturer? Also in China they don’t seem all that concerned about the environment so perhaps manufacturing batteries & disposing them there makes sense from an economic & health standpoint.
@CGZ — I don’t understand the point you are making by referencing that German study (in the Bloomberg article). We aren’t plugging in our cars in Germany. We are plugging them in here, where we have 100% renewable electricity. So our line is just like that of Norway, in the graph in the article you shared. We take an emissions hit in year 1, because the car requires more emissions to make. And after that we go mostly flat.
I wouldn’t buy an EV if I were living in West Virginia. But here they make a lot of sense. And in the meantime, let’s work to get greener electricity in more places, so they have this option as well.
Curious…if everyone drove electric cars would the various thoroughfares actually be quieter, with the possible exception of drivers honking their horns?
From a safety standpoint, I’ve noticed electric cars quietly maneuvering about within close proximity while I am walking through a parking lot. It can be dangerous at times because you can’t really hear them in operation at slow speeds.
Also there are some drivers who thrive on making exhaust-related noise with their vehicles (e.g. Harley-Davidson riders, street racers in those modified Honda Civics + some drivers of older vintage-era muscle cars). Is it fair to deprive them of this classic American cultural practice?
Noise abatement is one thing but an all-electric world of automobiles would be a strange audible experience + it would have a major economic impact on oil producers, refineries & retailers.
To eliminate all gasoline/diesel motor vehicles (while possibly good for the environment) could in fact, create an economic depression of sorts + Earth would get even further polluted with dead & defective batteries.
Rickshaws appear to be the only real solution & it would provide additional & viable job opportunities for those who are either under-educated or unskilled with an upside…personal injury attorneys who thrive on automobile-related accidents & injuries would now have to seek alternative professions.
… and the impact of losing all those gasoline taxes, 30% added to each gallon I buy.
This will further depress Palo Alto home prices.
Palo Alto homes are currently down 10% off their peak last year.
Not surprising.
With the SALT cap and Mtg cap on taxes in place, the Palo Alto homeowner is getting creamed.
>>>Rickshaws appear to be the only real solution & it would provide additional & viable job opportunities for those who are either under-educated or unskilled with an upside…
If I am in a hurry to get somewhere, I want my rickshaw driver on steroids or some form of performance-enhancing drug.
No different than having a turbocharger or high-performance automobile engine.
And as long as the rickshaw driver does not exceed 65-70 mph, all is good.
Aw c’mon, we all know Prius drivers are the most smug and arrogant (Check out South Park Smug Alert)… But about four years ago I noticed the rising attitude with the Tesla drivers.
Et tu Tesla?
They should leave the Palo Alto show rooms open and those could be a destination point as part of a Silicon Valley tour.