Tesla announced that they will be closing most of their locations and selling cars online only. This is crazy, right? Well, Tesla’s reason for this is that it will save them money; therefore, they will be able to release a new car. The car they are wanting to release is the Model 3, which will be sold for $35,000. Also, if this happens, it will allow them to drop the prices of the Model S and Model X.
I think that it is crazy that a car company would only want to have sales online, because most people want to test drive a car before they buy one. Tesla has a solution for this. That being that someone can place a $1,000 deposit on a car and drive it until they hit 1,000 miles on the car. If they do not like the car, they can return it. Tesla says they are working on this process as well, to make it run smoother.
I think what Tesla is doing is interesting, but I also think it could work. They are already a known brand, and the people buying from them are most likely existing customers. If they are not an existing customer, then they most likely know what they want, since the brand is more luxury. I think it will take a while for the process to get going, but I do think it could be successful. Also, Tesla is a brand that has been around for a while; therefore, they know what they are doing. The internet is part of our daily lives, so I think this will be successful once the details are figured out.
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/tesla-close-stores-online-sales-model-3/
JMC 367 Spring 2019 Blog 
My fiancé is a total gearhead – we were talking about Tesla earlier this week. It constantly feels like Tesla is trying to limit access of their cars to the people. For example, you can only repair a Tesla at one of the “approved shops” unlike almost every other car on the market. And now you can only buy them online. And really, they’re not that affordable. Attempting to reduce their prices doesn’t make up for how high their maintenance costs are.
You’re absolutely right that the people who would be interested in trying the new “drive 1,000 miles for $1,000” strategy are people who likely already own a Tesla – who have $1,000 to toss around like pocket change.
This is more of a personal grievance, but the standard Model 3 only goes up to 220 miles without a charge – my 17-year-old car gets almost double that amount. And I have leather seats, too (also unlike the standard Model 3). It just seems like Teslas aren’t much better in comparison besides the fact that it’s an electric car, it’s uncommon to see them and people think it’s cool to have one.
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I agree with you and your view on this. I, personally, do not have $1000 just to toss aside in order to try a car that I found on the internet. A lot of people don’t even like shopping for clothes online, why would they find comfort in test driving a car that you have to pay for in order to see if it fits your style or not? I wouldn’t want to. The great thing about buying in person is that they don’t charge you for trying to find a car that fits your life. No matter how amazing you can make a car seem through the website, social media, etc, a car isn’t as it seems in person as it seems online.
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Exactly!
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Tesla has a great sales technique and have marketed themselves extremely well. This is probably a good move.
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