mmarshall

Finally.....it's about time. Tesla has not yet had a full-dealership (actually a factory-retail store, since Tesla does not operate with conventional dealers/retailers) here in Northern Virginia's D.C. suburbs, home to some of the densest traffic in the nation and many notoriously large incomes. This area sells many expensive vehicles off all makes, and many dealerships for virtually every make and model available in the American market (sometimes excepting Mitsubishi) are located almost everywhere within reasonable driving distance (one reason why I have been able to review so many new cars). Tysons Corner is an enormously big-money retail/office/mall/commerce area, with some of the most expensive office-real-estate on the East Coast outside of Manhattan (and just a few miles from my place), so it's not surprising that Tesla chose to add its factory retail store to the already large string of upmarket-car dealerships there.

http://www.insidenova.com/news/busin...789e75105.html

Tesla Motors soon will open its first and only Virginia dealership in Tysons Corner, following a rezoning approved Nov. 18 by the Board of Supervisors. The electric-vehicle dealership will be situated in the front section of an existing warehouse on a 7-acre site at 8500 Tyco Road, located just south of the Dulles Toll Road.

“This is really an exciting opportunity for adaptive reuse of an aging industrial building,” said Sara Mariska, the applicant’s attorney.

Because of the California-based company’s unusual business model, there will be no need to maintain the kind of large on-site vehicle inventory typically associated with car dealerships, county officials said.

Tesla’s Tysons dealership will occupy about 49,000 square feet of the warehouse and have an 8,200-square-foot showroom, service bays for repair work and an indoor car wash, county officials said. Vehicles for sale will be stored indoors overnight.The company will refurbish the front of the building’s facade and add street trees and landscaping, officials said. Tesla will have until March 2015 to open its Tysons dealership.

Virginia law usually forbids vehicle manufacturers from being dealers. Under an agreement signed in fall 2013 with state regulatory agencies, the Tysons location will be Tesla’s only Virginia dealership allowed to sell vehicles to customers directly, instead of just show them vehicles. The company currently has a showroom at 1961 Chain Bridge Road in Tysons Corner Center. Tesla offers two models: the Model S sedan and Model X “crossover” vehicle. The company builds its vehicles at a highly automated factory in Fremont, Calif. According to the company’s Web site, most Tesla owners choose to have a 240-volt outlet or wall connector installed in their garages to charge the vehicles.

Tesla drivers will have little problem energizing their vehicles in Tysons. County officials noted that electric-vehicle charging stations have been included in most newly approved development projects in Tysons. County officials trumpeted the news afterward in a press release, but during the Board of Supervisors meeting, the proceedings were about as quiet as an electric vehicle.

The two items discussed at the public hearing were labeled “Tysons West Assemblage” and at no time did anyone mention Tesla, although references to a state-of-the-art electric car company that sells its products directly to consumers led observers to just one likely conclusion.
“I just want to say, I get a charge out of this application,” quipped Supervisor Gerald Hyland (D-Mount Vernon).

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

and I'm sure you're excited to drive a P85D

mmarshall

We'll see. Given the fact that Tesla shops don't operate like regular dealerships, they may or may not allow random test-drives. Also, I obviously won't know any of the people there like I do at a number of other shops.

TripleL

Good addition for Tesla and the DC area

Allen K

iTrader: (4)

You can sign up for a test drive at any Tesla outlet. I'm sure if you made arrangements they'd let you take one out even if you weren't considering the car

mmarshall

Thanks. I'll check into that at the D.C. auto show at the end of January, if Tesla has a display there. The new local shop probably won't be ready till March.

GISguy

I assume this will be just behind the Aston/McLaren/Bentley/Roller dealership that I see every morning and evening from the Silver Line.

Habious

It will be nice to have a Tesla Service Center 15 minutes from my house!