Watch CBS News

Tesla Tests Pop-Up Store Model To Bypass Dealerships

PALO ALTO (CBS SF) - Tesla may be taking a page from Food Trucks - take your stuff on the road.

Tesla debuted several pop-up stores around the U.S. over the Memorial Day weekend.

Not one for traditional sales models, Tesla rolls the stores in on flatbed trucks, and then assembles them into a store that's only twenty feet deep and 34-feet wide, The Silicon Valley Business Journal reports.

Tesla has been fighting with several states over its stores because they sell directly to consumers, rather than through dealerships.

The Business Journal speculates that the pop-up stores may be the secret-weapon for the "demand generation" alluded to by Elon Musk earlier this year.

Another Musk company is catching a big break. 

The U-S Air Force has certified the SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket for launching military and spy satellites, a market worth an estimates $70-billion dollars through 2030.That certification was no easy feat, taking more than two years of testing and paperwork for the sensitive work. 

Boeing and Lockheed Martin have had an iron grip on military satellite launches after forming a partnership in 2006, but SpaceX has an advantage in that its rockets are cheaper( and we're talking relatively, they still cost well into the millions, and its testing a reusable rocket, which has recently prompted Boeing and Lockheed to develop their own reusable rocket.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.