Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s Model S has surpassed both investors’ and reviewers’ expectations. The former group has watched the company’s share price soar and reach a market capitalization over $20 billion from a market cap of zero just under two years ago. Reviewers were simply blown away by everything the Model S offered and almost without fail ranked the car nearly as high as possible, and are almost one voice in it calling the best car made in the last 10 years.
Tesla Model X arrives in showroom
Hundreds of people, nearly all with the newest iPhone in hand, descended on Tesla’s newest U.S. showroom located in Palo Alto, CA. The store, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s equivalent of the Apple Store, just opened a mile from Stanford University, and three miles from Google Inc (NSDAQ:GOOG)’s campus, whose founders attended Stanford.
It’s nothing short of the heart of Silicon Valley.
While the Model X was shown at the annual show in Detroit, it’s different when viewed in person with a DJ in attendance, and valets attending to those who arrived in Model S sedans. The Model X will be Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s second offering, an all-electric SUV-like vehicle.
“It’s awesome. It looks easy to drive, and it looks so much better than a minivan. Minivans are for old people,” said Vilma Estacio-Melamed of San Jose, who admired a white Model X, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s new SUV, which is scheduled to begin production next year.
Tesla Motors showroom locations
The Palo Alto location joins the stores and service centers in San Jose, Fremont, Burlingame and San Rafael to become the fifth show room in the Bay Area. Tesla now has 41 locations in North America.
“It’s in the heart of Silicon Valley,” said Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) spokeswoman Alexis Georgeson. “The market is very strong for us in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley. We’re opening stores in places where we expect to sell vehicles.”
When bystanders were asked to speak about their Model S’s and the reason they’re looking at the Model X, the answer is simple: they are great cars.
“It’s the first expensive car we’ve ever bought,” said Christine Sireci, of Saratoga, who bought a dark blue Model S in March with her husband, Don, and visited the store Saturday. “I was driving a 2000 Chevy Astro. But I drove the Tesla and I fell in love with it.”
Tesla sales
Through June 30, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) sold 13,000 Model S cars and expects to sell 21,000 this year, Georgeson said.
It’s easy to forget that if a similar sized car with a full tank of gas had erupted in flames, the result would have been considerably worse, as Elon Musk recently pointed out to investors.
