Fairfax County approves Va.s first Tesla dealership
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a developer’s application to open a Tesla dealership in Tysons Corner Tuesday, giving the luxury electric car marker the final major approval required to open its first sales outlet in the state.
Tesla has long shown cars to customers at a showroom in the Tysons Corner Center mall, but it took a special agreement with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles and a zoning change for the company to be able to actually sell cars. The deal with the DMV requires Tesla to open by March of next year.
The board’s approval paves the way for Tesla to open a dealership and 8,200-square-foot showroom at 8500 Tyco Road, an industrial site off of Leesburg Pike that is part of a combination of properties being developed by the Georgelas Group near the Spring Hill station on Metro’s Silver Line.
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Tesla’s interest in opening locations where it can make direct sales has been controversial in part because in many states it puts the car maker at odds with franchised dealerships, which still transact the vast majority of car sales.
In states including Arizona, New Jersey and Texas, dealers have been fighting to protect their dominance from Tesla’s interest in direct sales, prevailing recently in Michigan when Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation prohibiting Tesla and founder Elon Musk from selling directly to consumers.
Tysons Corner has for a generation served as one of the most prolific auto sales markets in the region, with dealerships lined up and down Leesburg Pike and other main corridors. But those lots are being sold one by one to real estate developers, as part of a plan to turn Tysons into a more walkable, urban area. While Tesla will be a part of that vision, most of the traditional dealerships have taken their models to lots at the Chantilly Autopark, located on more than 100 acres along Route 50.
In D.C., where the exodus of dealerships began a generation earlier, Tesla is poised to soon be the only car dealer left.
Follow Jonathan O’Connell on Twitter: @oconnellpostbiz
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