特斯拉坚持直产直销的7个原因

乍听起来，特斯拉坚持在自有品牌门店销售自家车型，似乎是一个无可非议的战略选择。以苹果公司为代表的众多制造商一直在全美国各地的商场和市中心销售电脑、手机和平板电脑等设备。

然而汽车经销商和一些汽车厂商大力反对特斯拉的销售模式，并且成功说服几个州禁止汽车生产商直接将汽车销售给顾客。因此，在德克萨斯州等几个州，特斯拉虽然建立了展厅，让消费者可以到店了解车型，但消费者却不能直接从展厅购买车辆。

近年来，特斯拉斥巨资在全球各地建立了一批自家品牌的门店。然而特斯拉为什么坚持不通过传统的独立经销商系统销售旗下车型呢？

特斯拉公司总顾问托德•玛伦日前向美国联邦贸易委员会详细解释了为什么该公司要自行销售汽车。联邦贸易委员会的意见是，各州不应禁止汽车直销。

对于特斯拉为什么要以这种全新的方式销售汽车，玛伦给出了如下几个原因：

1. 离消费者近些、更近一些

玛伦指出，传统的独立经销商门店通常建在离市区较远的大片空地上。相比之下，特斯拉的门店一般建在人流密集区域，比如大型商场或市中心。另外，特斯拉的门店往往面积更小，更亲近顾客。

玛伦称，这是因为特斯拉的潜在用户需要了解特斯拉和电动汽车。电动汽车是一项新技术，因此特斯拉的门店既要成为潜在用户的“教育中心”，还必须有方便的地理位置。苹果建立自家品牌专门店时，乔布斯也宣扬过类似的“教育消费者”论调。

2. 特斯拉可以实现零库存

传统的汽车经销商非常重视库存。一批车辆运到经销商门店后，他们就要想方设法尽快将它们卖出去。但特斯拉车型的生产和销售都采取了完全不同的方式。很多时候，客户会对他们的车子进行定制，比如自行挑选车漆颜色和配件。由于去年特斯拉的出货量达到了5万辆，很多车主通常要等几个月才能提到心仪的爱车。

3. 这是一个培训消费者的过程

玛伦表示，很多消费者到传统经销商那里购车是为了拿到最低的价格，而特斯拉的潜在车主来到特斯拉的门店则是为了了解这项技术。特斯拉的销售代表往往要花几个小时向顾客讲解如何给汽车充电，政府为电动车提供了哪些优惠政策，以及充电和加油相比能节省多少费用等等。而传统汽车经销商的销售代表很可能不愿意花这么多时间帮助顾客了解特斯拉电动汽车。

4. 商业模式不同

特斯拉的利润来自销售电动汽车，而传统经销商的利润更多来自销售服务、汽车改装和配件等。而相比传统的燃油汽车，电动汽车少了更换机油等服务需求，使得经销商在后续服务上无利可图。

5. 特斯拉不会为广告付费

传统的汽车经销商靠汽车制造商来提供广告资金，而特斯拉既不做传统广告，也不会让另一家公司替它做广告。这也是传统经销商模式为什么不能和特斯拉兼容的另一个原因。

6. 经销商挣不到钱

最引人注目的原因，就是传统的经销商无法通过销售特斯拉的车型赚到钱。经销商必须要溢价销售汽车才能赚到利润。但是消费者如果想购买特斯拉的话，只需要上网下单，或到临近的一个州去购买即可，不必支付额外的溢价。

7. 传统汽车净销商存在利益冲突

特斯拉致力于用电动汽车取代传统的燃油动力汽车，并且宣称特斯拉电动汽车要优于燃油汽车。但经销商们销售的绝大多数汽车都是燃油动力的，他们当然不会按照特斯拉的期望去尽心尽力地推广电动汽车了。（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

审校：任文科

Tesla’s strategy of selling its own cars through its own Tesla-branded stores doesn’t sound all that controversial. Gadget makers like Apple AAPL -0.48% have long directly sold their computers, phones, and tablets in shopping malls and downtowns across the country.

However, car dealers and some auto makers oppose Tesla’s sales model and have successfully lobbied a handful of states to block car makers from directly selling cars to customers. In those states, like Texas, Tesla builds showrooms where customers can learn about the cars but can’t buy them in the store.

But why does Teslago to such lengths to buck the traditional independent dealer system? In recent years, the company has spent heavily building new stores around the world.

On Tuesday, Tesla’s general council, Todd Maron, gave a detailed explanation before the Federal Trade Commission about why Tesla needs to sell its cars itself. The FTC’s opinion is that states shouldn’t block direct car sales.

Maron gave these seven reasons why Tesla wants to sell cars in an entirely new way:

1). Go to the customer: Traditional independent dealerships are usually built on large plots of land in out-of-the-way locations, noted Maron. In contrast, Tesla stores are better off in areas that have a lot of foot traffic, he said. Some are in places like malls and city centers. The stores also benefit from being much smaller and more intimate.

That’s because potential Tesla customers need to learn about both Tesla and electric cars, explained Maron. Electric cars are new technology, and Tesla stores need to be both education centers and conveniently located, he said. When Apple built its stores, Steve Jobs used similar reasoning about wanting to educate customers about his company’s unusual gadgets.

2). No inventory: Traditional car dealers focus on inventory. Once they get a car onto a lot, they move it out as quickly as possible. But Tesla cars are made and sold in a completely different way. Oftentimes, customers customize their cars like picking paint colors and choosing accessories. And because Tesla shipped about 50,000 last year, customers usually have to wait months to get their cars.

3). Education process: Unlike customers at traditional dealers who come in to get the lowest price, potential Tesla customers go into Tesla stores to learn about the technology. Tesla reps often spend hours with customers to teach them where they can charge Tesla cars, the size of government electric car incentives, and how much they can expect to pay in electricity versus gas. Car sales staff at traditional independent dealers would likely be unwilling to spend the time to educate the customer about Tesla cars, said Maron.

4). Different business model: Tesla makes a profit from selling its electric cars. But traditional dealers make more money from selling services, tuneups and add-ons than they do from selling cars, said Maron. Electric cars have fewer service requirements like oil changes than gas-powered cars do.

5). Advertising: Traditional auto dealers rely on auto makers to fund their advertising, said Maron. But he said that Tesla doesn’t do traditional advertising and wouldn’t let another company do it for them. That’s just another reason why the traditional dealer model isn’t compatible with Tesla, noted Maron.

6). Dealers won’t make money: Perhaps the most compelling reason, said Maron, is that traditional franchise dealers won’t be able to make money from selling Tesla’s cars. Dealers mark up cars they sell to make a profit. But a customer could just go online, or to a neighboring state, and buy a Tesla car without the additional markup.

7). Gas conflict of interest: Tesla is striving to replace gas-powered cars with its electric cars, and promotes its models as superior to those with internal combustion engines. However, the vast majority of cars sold through dealers are gas-powered cars. Tesla’s Maron said that dealers, therefore, wouldn’t be the good advocates for electric cars that Tesla needs.