Lexus USA general manager Jeff Bracken believes the Tesla shopping mall showrooms are “clever”, according to a recent interview with Wards Auto:
“The model that Tesla has to open up their outlets in shopping malls is a clever one, (and) I think they’re getting a lot of folks to stop in and learn about Tesla,” Jeff Bracken, group vice president-Lexus at Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. recently told a crowd at a late November media gathering here.
“We’re interested to watch what (Tesla does), how the business model works and what kind of customers wander into their outlets,” he says. “That’s really interesting to us and that’s about as much as I would be able to share with you today.”
All Tesla stores are company-owned, which would not work for Lexus (or any other automotive brand) due to their existing dealership network — however, Bracken believes this could be an advantage:
“If we were ever to consider something like that, we would keep our dealers part of the solution, no question about it,” Bracken says. “But it’s intriguing if young folks are telling us they don’t really look forward to going to a traditional dealership, but they still have an interest in buying a vehicle or shopping for a vehicle. (If) that’s an outlet that could work for them, then we need to take a look at that to see if that’s something that could make sense for us.”
[Source: Wards Auto]
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