Electric carmaker Tesla to roll out mobile stores

Though electric-car maker Tesla Motors' direct to consumer approach is unique, the company is looking to add another dimension to auto retail experience.

Tesla plans to meet customers at popular summer locations with a touring, full-fledged store experience something not heard of before in conventional auto marketing.

When transported, Tesla's new mobile store fits on a single flatbed truck and takes up the space of four shipping containers sitting side by side. On expansion and transformation, the store is about 20 feet deep and 34.5 feet wide.

"Designed in-house, the shipping container arrives and unfolds to double its size in just a few hours," Tesla said in a media release. "The mobility and convenience of the design allows Tesla to bring our unique retail approach to customers in new locations where we do not yet have a brick-and-mortar location."

The store would highlight Model S components, including the Model S's electric power train and battery architecture. People who visit the store would be able to "learn about electric driving with enticing visuals and interactive displays," as also get to test-drive the Model S.

Meanwhile, in addition to launching a new premium SUV crossover later this year, Tesla plans to launch a high-volume mass market electric car it calls the Model 3 in 2017.

For the cheaper Model 3, Tesla would be banking on lower battery costs that would depend on a timely launch of the company's $5 billion Gigafactory – the largest lithium-ion battery plant in the world - currently under construction in Nevada.

Tesla is also increasingly pushing its premium Model S sedan across more international markets where demand for the company's electric cars is gaining traction thanks to heavy and rapid investments by the company to build the necessary infrastructure; a supercharger network and service stations.

Not surprisingly, Tesla had pledged $1.5 billion in capital expenditure (capex) this year – nearly 25 per cent of the capex budget put forward for the year by Ford Motor Company the second largest US automaker, which rakes in nearly 200 times more revenue than Tesla.

However the electric car maker's relentless investment in growth catalysts at a time when the company was burning cash had brought about much criticism from Wall Street analysts and investors.