乍聽起來，特斯拉堅持在自有品牌門店銷售自家車型，似乎是一個無可非議的戰略選擇。以蘋果公司為代表的眾多制造商一直在全美國各地的商場和市中心銷售電腦、手機和平板電腦等設備。

然而汽車經銷商和一些汽車廠商大力反對特斯拉的銷售模式，并且成功說服幾個州禁止汽車生產商直接將汽車銷售給顧客。因此，在德克薩斯州等幾個州，特斯拉雖然建立了展廳，讓消費者可以到店了解車型，但消費者卻不能直接從展廳購買車輛。

近年來，特斯拉斥巨資在全球各地建立了一批自家品牌的門店。然而特斯拉為什么堅持不通過傳統的獨立經銷商系統銷售旗下車型呢？

特斯拉公司總顧問托德?瑪倫日前向美國聯邦貿易委員會詳細解釋了為什么該公司要自行銷售汽車。聯邦貿易委員會的意見是，各州不應禁止汽車直銷。

對于特斯拉為什么要以這種全新的方式銷售汽車，瑪倫給出了如下幾個原因：

1. 離消費者近些、更近一些

瑪倫指出，傳統的獨立經銷商門店通常建在離市區較遠的大片空地上。相比之下，特斯拉的門店一般建在人流密集區域，比如大型商場或市中心。另外，特斯拉的門店往往面積更小，更親近顧客。

瑪倫稱，這是因為特斯拉的潛在用戶需要了解特斯拉和電動汽車。電動汽車是一項新技術，因此特斯拉的門店既要成為潛在用戶的“教育中心”，還必須有方便的地理位置。蘋果建立自家品牌專門店時，喬布斯也宣揚過類似的“教育消費者”論調。

2. 特斯拉可以實現零庫存

傳統的汽車經銷商非常重視庫存。一批車輛運到經銷商門店后，他們就要想方設法盡快將它們賣出去。但特斯拉車型的生產和銷售都采取了完全不同的方式。很多時候，客戶會對他們的車子進行定制，比如自行挑選車漆顏色和配件。由于去年特斯拉的出貨量達到了5萬輛，很多車主通常要等幾個月才能提到心儀的愛車。

3. 這是一個培訓消費者的過程

瑪倫表示，很多消費者到傳統經銷商那里購車是為了拿到最低的價格，而特斯拉的潛在車主來到特斯拉的門店則是為了了解這項技術。特斯拉的銷售代表往往要花幾個小時向顧客講解如何給汽車充電，政府為電動車提供了哪些優惠政策，以及充電和加油相比能節省多少費用等等。而傳統汽車經銷商的銷售代表很可能不愿意花這么多時間幫助顧客了解特斯拉電動汽車。

4. 商業模式不同

特斯拉的利潤來自銷售電動汽車，而傳統經銷商的利潤更多來自銷售服務、汽車改裝和配件等。而相比傳統的燃油汽車，電動汽車少了更換機油等服務需求，使得經銷商在后續服務上無利可圖。

5. 特斯拉不會為廣告付費

傳統的汽車經銷商靠汽車制造商來提供廣告資金，而特斯拉既不做傳統廣告，也不會讓另一家公司替它做廣告。這也是傳統經銷商模式為什么不能和特斯拉兼容的另一個原因。

6. 經銷商掙不到錢

最引人注目的原因，就是傳統的經銷商無法通過銷售特斯拉的車型賺到錢。經銷商必須要溢價銷售汽車才能賺到利潤。但是消費者如果想購買特斯拉的話，只需要上網下單，或到臨近的一個州去購買即可，不必支付額外的溢價。

7. 傳統汽車凈銷商存在利益沖突

特斯拉致力于用電動汽車取代傳統的燃油動力汽車，并且宣稱特斯拉電動汽車要優于燃油汽車。但經銷商們銷售的絕大多數汽車都是燃油動力的，他們當然不會按照特斯拉的期望去盡心盡力地推廣電動汽車了。（財富中文網）

譯者：樸成奎

審校：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.