02 June 2014

We’ve just talked to Tesla UK boss Georg Ell about the company’s plans. What’s interesting is that Tesla really isn’t like any other car retailer or car manufacturer you’ve met before. Yes, Tesla is in retail, but it’s probably right that it styles itself as a tech company that sells cars, rather than the other way round.

 Ell repeatedly used the word ‘disruptive’ when he spoke of how he believed Tesla would affect the way car retailing and even car manufacturing operates.

 He also puts forward the idea of a manufacturer owning, controlling and running the retail operation, coupled to a no-haggle sales process, as something that is new. But I couldn’t help thinking that this was exactly what Daewoo tried when it launched into the UK back in 1995.

 There are, of course marked differences between Daewoo and Tesla, not least that Tesla’s cars are upmarket, electric and reckoned to be pretty good.

We wouldn’t expect Ell to be familiar with Daewoo’s back-story, and he wasn’t. Nor for that matter, did he appear to understand what an overhead absorption rate was. He joined Tesla just four months ago and before that his background has been resolutely new-tech.

His determination for Tesla to forge its own way, however, reaffirmed that Tesla really isn’t typical of our industry. For that reason (and many others), it is well worth keeping a close eye on to see if its ideas for retailing really can disrupt the establishment.

Tristan Young

* For a full interview with Georg Ell, see the June issue of Auto Retail Bulletin.

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Tags: Daewoo, Ell Georg, Tesla