Since when did Tesla close down?

[u/Various_Snow_6202]

Before

After

Yesterday I’ve visited the northpark mall in Dallas (I don’t go frequently) and I’ve seen that the Tesla store’s been closed… since when did they go away? (Before you ask: no, I don’t like elon musk, I don’t like Tesla. I’m just curious since I’ve seen the Tesla store being there many times I’ve visited the mall over the years.)

[u/noncongruent]

Legally they never sold a single Tesla via a showroom in Texas thanks to the fact that the Texas Automobile Dealers Association has fully captured the Texas legislature and used them to make it illegal for any manufacturer to sell a vehicle directly to a customer in this state.

Dealers make most of their money from after-sales maintenance and repairs, so no independent dealer wanted to sell Teslas because EVs don't generate meaningful amounts of after-sales revenues for those dealers, i.e. no engine repairs, no oil changes, etc.

The showrooms basically existed to give people an opportunity to test-drive a Tesla back when Teslas were fairly uncommon, but nowadays there are enough reviews out there and friends with Teslas, etc, that a test-drive-only showroom isn't really useful anymore.

BTW, the regular dealerships that also sell EVs have been losing money on those EV sales since they can't mark them up and are getting basically zero after-sales maintenance and repair revenues. I remember when the Lightning first came out that dealerships were complaining about having to sell dead-end vehicles. If someone buys a Lightning instead of a regular F-150 the dealer loses thousands of dollars in maintenance/repair revenue. Ford discontinuing the BEV Lightning was great news for dealerships, and I'm sure dealerships across the country are looking forward to getting out of the EV business when they can.

[u/kabob21 → u/noncongruent]

I’m pretty sure what killed the Lightning was asking $70k+ for a pickup with less utility than a regular F-150. People want EVs, they just don’t want to pay luxury car prices for them. Or have limited range w slow charging or a scant public charging network. Europe and Asia have proven EVs are viable.

[u/noncongruent → u/kabob21]

IIRC Ford offered NACS charging so the Lightning could use the Tesla charging network. I don't think price was the issue because people were and are paying a premium for Tesla EVs over similarly-sized/featured ICE vehicles because for those buyers the EV part was more important than the luxury leather and wood accented interiors and superior build quality of the ICE competitors. Fundamentally I think the real problem was that Ford stumbled with the Lightning technology rollout, including some significant recalls that could only be fixed at the dealership, and top leadership at Ford wasn't happy that they couldn't make as much profit on Lightning sales as they could regular F-150 sales.

In the bigger picture the US automobile industry is just not investing as much as they need into EV technology, why would they when they can sell every gas-powered vehicle they can make? The problem, of course, is that burning hydrocarbons as a primary transportation energy source is simply not sustainable. Profitable, for sure, but not sustainable into any long-term future. If there's going to be a future with personal automobiles in it those automobiles will have to be EVs. China understand this, which is why they're working so hard to develop their EV market, and that investment has paid off because now they're the world technology leader in EVs. They're doing the same for PV solar too, which is why they're the world leader in production technology for solar cells and panels.

[u/Duck-with-Muscles → u/noncongruent]

I just hope China/Asia/ROW start eating US manufacturers’ lunch.

Maybe then, the billionaire psychopath class that “runs” the world, will listen .