Tesla will soon inaugurate its first Hawaii retail store at Ala Moana Center in Honolulu. The store is scheduled to open in the second week of December, a Tesla owner-adviser confirmed to PBN.
Enjoying impressive sales growth in Hawaii
Though the EV firm has a showroom and service location in Waikele in Central Oahu, the Ala Moana Center facility will include an onsite design studio and allow test drives for the vehicles.
Tesla cars are very popular in Hawaii. According to a report from the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association, Tesla is among the 10 brands of cars and light trucks to register more than 13% growth in sales during the first three quarters of the current year. Tesla witnessed the biggest percentage rise among all brands there this year at 85.9%, selling 119 cars so far this year versus 64, at the same point last year.
Tesla still blocked in Michigan
Meanwhile, Tesla is working to strike a chord with Michigan lawmakers to allow it sell itselectric cars in there via its direct-to-consumer model. Even though the EV firm is working with several Michigan-based suppliers and running its own tool and die shop outside of Grand Rapids, the company has been blocked by state law from selling its cars directly to customers.
According to Tesla’s vice president of regulatory affairs and associate legal counsel, James Chen, the company is ready to put up storefronts in Michigan, if allowed. As a compromise, the company even suggested opening a limited number of storefronts – somewhere between five and ten. In an interview with Midwest Energy News, Chen said the EV firm is “about innovation and trying to innovate not just in California, but in Michigan as well.”
Though the company is not allowed to sell cars there, it has invested in the region, Chen said. In Michigan, the company has partnered with 55 different suppliers for the supply of parts for its cars. In May, Tesla also made a direct investment in the state when it acquired Riviera Tool. The acquired firm has now been renamed Tesla Tool and Die.
In October 2014, a policy detailing state law on the direct-to-consumer sales model was passed under Gov. Rick Snyder. Now Michigan customers willing to buy a Tesla car need to visit the Chicago or Cleveland stores.
