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Inside My Love Hate Relationship with Tesla
By M Dorsett
I’ll never forget the first time I drove a car made by Tesla Motors. My younger brother rolled up in a blue model S that he had rented on Turo for our Christmas vacation. Everyone was so excited, and it felt like all eyes
were on us driving around town. The car drove so smoothly, and was whisper quiet. It felt like we were inside a giant mobile phone because of the huge screen. It was all very cool.
I will also never forget the first time I tried to schedule a test drive at my local Tesla dealership. Or my first visit to an actual Tesla location in Boston. Both were very uncool.
Being a Miami resident, I’m uncomfortably accustomed to “bougie-ness”, and Tesla is a fine example.
Forget about walking in and test driving a car. Ludicrous idea! You must schedule this in advance, and they are not apologetic about it. In my mind if you have that many people coming in for test drives, that you cant accommodate walk ins, or same day appointments, maybe you should hire more people. This happened to me twice.
I was always interested in their cars, because of benefits to the wallet and the world. But what truly got me excited was when I rode in one. What brought me to the moment of — shut up and take my money, was when I got behind the wheel and took it for a spin. That is the key.
With the Model 3 being touted as the version for the masses, I truly hope they figure this out. Not just producing them, but getting people into them to experience it. A partnership with Lyft to get drivers special purchase perks on old models would be ideal, disruptive, and surely expose more people to the Tesla magic.
