Tesla opens first electric car retail store

High-performance electric car company Tesla Motors has opened its first retail store in Los Angeles and announced plans for a further four stores to address its five main US target markets.

The move may seem odd, given that the car has only been in production for two months, and that the firm has a 900-unit backlog. However, sales, marketing and service operations manager Colette Niazmand explained that even though the company is producing just one car each week, it needs the sites open now so that it will have the attached service centres available for customers with cars already on the road.

"Towards the end of the year, we will be ramping up to 20 cars each week," she added.

The company's high-performance electric Roadster has a 220 mile range and a lithium ion battery that will retain its performance and range for 100,000 miles before needing a three hour replacement operation. It is manufactured at the Lotus plant in England, but the power train is installed in the US.

Meanwhile, details on its forthcoming vehicle – a low-end model called the Whitestar – remain scarce. "It will be a four door, five passenger Sedan selling for around half the price of the Roadster, so it will cost $55,000 to $65,000," Niazmand said. "We are still targeting the 2010 model year."

The company, which is currently considering an initial public offering, will open another flagship store in Menlo Park in June, said Niazmand, as the company seeks to tap into strong Californian demand for its vehicles. Tesla claims a quarter of its customer base is in Northern California, with a further quarter found in the south of the state.

Further stores will be opened in New York, Florida, and Chicago by 2009, although they will be smaller "boutique" sales centres.