Tesla Opens L.A. Dealership - May 2nd, 2008
In the midst of lawsuits and the like Tesla Motors has still managed to get its first dealership open in Los Angeles at the busy intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Sepulveda. Currently the company has sold 600 of their two-seat roadsters on pre-order with a waiting list of 400. Here’s the rub — they’ve only built four production vehicles to date. Can you say “ongoing transmission woes?”
Basically an issue with the planned two-speed Magna transmission has forced the company to go back to the drawing board and crank out a redesigned one-speed in partnership with Ricardo UK Ltd. Until those units are ready, the Teslas will be produced at something of a craw at Lotus Cars Ltd. in England. The cars that get finished will have their transmissions switched out later, a change that apparently takes about two hours. The goal is to get 300 done by December at which time they hope to have a monthly production of 150 going. Then in 2009 the plan is to move the major production to northern California where the car’s 1,000-lb. battery pack is assembled.
In the meantime would-be customers can enjoy the $2 million dealerships that have been described as the love child of a hip ad agency and a trendy restaurant. Think poured concrete, exposed beams, mirrored glass out front, and designer planter boxes with chi chi stuff growing in them. The facilities run to about 10,000 square feet. The second will be going up in Menlo Park near Tesla’s headquarters in Silicon Valley this summer with four planned for New York, Miami, Seattle, and Chicago.
And so the Tesla saga continues, slow but steady in spite of setbacks, but it would seem we are closer than ever to seeing the roadsters where they belong — on the road.
Posted on May 2nd, 2008 by Shorty
Filed under: technology, alternative fuels |
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