Tesla and Fiat coming to DC Area

Tesla and Fiat coming to DC Area

Luxury electric carmaker Tesla Motors is coming to the Washington metropolitan area this year with store locations planned on K Street in DC and in Bethesda, Maryland at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Leland St.

Palo Alto, California-based Tesla, the brainchild of PayPal inventor Elon Musk, manufactures the $120,000 Tesla, battery-powered sports cars, of which about 1,200 have been sold worldwide. The company is also preparing to build a sedan version of the vehicle, which will have a range of approximately 245 miles before needing a recharge.

Tesla spokesman Ricardo Reyes confirmed that the company is nearing a deal to bring a Tesla store to 1050 K St. NW. and the Bethesda location, which is a former high-end furniture store. The company already sells cars through stores in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Boulder, Colo., outside Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and in Menlo Park and Santa Monica, Calif.

Unlike traditional dealerships, Tesla stores will have no service operations, instead sending technicians directly to the vehicle owners home or workplace to maintain and repair the vehicle. It is unclear at the moment whether the company will fall under the franchise laws in the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia and how they will comply with those rules if they do.

Tesla is the first of a number of electric vehicles that will be sold in the Washington, DC area, which is being used by a number of automakers as a test area to gauge the market for them. Nissan is already taking orders for its all electric Leaf and GM will begin selling its electric Chevy Volt here later this year.

There are 13,900 registered electric hybrids in the D.C. area, the fourth-highest sales area nationwide for such vehicles in 2008, according to a report by Travelers and the Polk Center for Automotive Sales.

Meanwhile, Fiat has announced that it will launch its Fiat 500 in the Washington area later this year with standard franchise locations in Montgomery County, MD, Frederick, MD, Fairfax, VA and Baltimore, MD. Fiat hopes to sell as many as 150,000 vehicles in the U.S., including Alfa Romeo models, which will be added to the franchise next year.