[c4wrd]

In my opinion, we lose a lot, some things practical and others societal. Practically first, when I’m in the market for a new vehicle, I’m not sure which I honestly want. I like being able to go to a dealership and find something that convinced me otherwise from what I came to originally look at it. In the most recent case, I was really wanting a truck and being able to see them in person, how I fit, etc, was what sold me over one make versus another. Second, how does a future where there’s X car dealerships with different sites that I can’t easily compare across makes sound? Now it’s much harder for the average consumer to find a new vehicle. This will lead to aggregators, which will initially not be allowed up front because the manufacturer wants the full cut, but they’ll eventually concede.

Now societal. Sure, car dealerships may be “predatory” (I argue against that, some may be but most I’ve dealt with are opposite of that because they want your business), but at the end of the day it allows for more people to have jobs and participate in the economy. At some point we, technologists, are going to remove everyone’s job from them and we’ll act surprised societal uprisings happen because there’s no jobs available to the average Joe. Now I’m not arguing against automation, but car dealerships employ millions across the country, I don’t think removing those jobs from our fellow citizens who may or may not be able to do much more than sell cars, to no fault of their own, just to make a few more dollars for the manufacturer at “ease of the consumer”.

Once again these are my opinions, I’d love to hear from people who think this could be a good model for selling vehicles and will take them into full consideration.

[dghlsakjg]

Just a note, If you want to go sit in a Tesla or test drive one, you can still do that despite a complete lack of dealerships. In my experience, a Tesla is the only showroom experience where there was 0 pressure, and no-one trying to get my info or photocopy my driver license just to see the inside of a car.

A lack of dealerships does not mean that there are no showrooms or test drives. There's nothing stopping Ford, BMW, Mercedes or whoever from putting in a showroom next to a Tesla showroom. In actuality it makes it easier since a showroom doesn't have to have inventory; you can put them in places where a normal car dealership couldn't exist (this is exactly what Tesla is doing). I saw a Genesis showroom in an airport once...

[smsm42]

The thing is Tesla is a luxury car for rich people - upper middle class and above. This means you only need a limited number of show rooms - where most rich people live - and rich people are also pretty mobile, so they can come to you. Scaling the same for car with more broad appeal may be hard to manage for the company, and there's no incentive for the third party to do it if they can't sell. Honda sells 4x more cars than Tesla in the US, Toyota - 7-8x. Can this still be managed by showroom-only? I have my doubts.

The state I live in has 1 (one) Tesla shop. For the whole state. Do you think the other car makers would be able to work with one showroom per state?

[signatoremo]

I’m guessing EV sale in your state is minuscule compared to ICEs? Why do Tesla need more than one showroom if that one can handle all the sales in the state? Or maybe there are Tesla showrooms in adjacent states that are frequented by consumers from your state?

Also, not all Tesla sales happened after consumers visited their showrooms. Tesla itself planned to close most of their showrooms at some point [0], only to reverse it later. I’m sure they were confident their sales wouldn’t tank when making such decision. One dealer per state may be too few for Ford, how about five? or ten? Do you think Ford can’t afford five or ten showrooms?

[0] - https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/28/18245296/tesla-stores-clo...

[smsm42]

Tesla doesn't need more showrooms. But somebody like Honda or Toyota couldn't do with the same one-showroom-per-state model. That's why I have three Honda dealerships and three Toyota dealerships within 30 minutes drive of me.

> Tesla itself planned to close (all) their showrooms at some point,

Maybe for Tesla it could work. For Toyota - they'd be insane to do something like that.

> Do you think Ford can’t afford five or ten showrooms?

They could afford, but that would cost them. And it probably won't be very efficient. For Tesla, whose buyers have little concern for price, and whose meme value is obvious, it may work. For Ford, which very much competes on price and utility with about a dozen other makers, I don't think such a move would be survivable. They could sell one special model this way, maybe, but making whole business - I'll believe it when I see it, done not for a niche rich people's car but by some mass-market vendor.

[Animats]

The Ford electric pickup costs more than a Model 3 Tesla.

[wumpus]

You don't even need showrooms to give test drives -- there are companies out there which will drop off a car to your house to do a test drive.

Tesla mostly does test drives out of showrooms, but there is this:

> Tesla occasionally hosts test drive events for those who don’t live near a showroom. You can check out our events page to find regional test drive tours near you.

[dfxm12]

at the end of the day it allows for more people to have jobs and participate in the economy.

It's not like selling a car is a super specialized skill. We're also at very low unemployment. The people who were selling cars can switch jobs. People switch jobs all the time. Losing a job generally doesn't prevent someone from participating in the economy.

Mechanics can open their own shop or work at a Pep Boys. Likewise, the underwriters can work elsewhere, probably even remotely.

At some point we, technologists, are going to remove everyone’s job from them and we’ll act surprised societal uprisings happen because there’s no jobs available to the average Joe.

This is a problem of late stage capitalism, not technologists or automation per se. A job is only mostly a requirement to have your needs met because our society says it is. It doesn't have to be that way.