Tasting the future
Tasting the future
What I learned from borrowing a Tesla for the weekend
👋 Hi friends, it's Hesam with issue #33 of 4 bits. 4 bits is a biweekly newsletter where I share thoughts and musings on how to build memorable experiences.
Fall is finally here 🍁. The weather is starting to cool down in Houston which means it’s safe to open the door and go outside without being hit by a wave of hot humidity.
One of my favorite rituals this time of the year is walking over to the student-run coffee house at Rice (affectionately dubbed “Chaus”). It’s not only a chance to escape from the office, but the walk across campus surrounded by trees and greenery in crisp, cool weather is absolutely delightful.
"I grew up around cars"
“I grew up around cars”. This phrase probably brings up imagery of someone that worked on fixing up cars, getting their hands dirty, and learning how the mechanics of a car worked. Maybe their time around cars even inspired them to be an engineer or a builder!
My childhood around cars looked a little different. My dad was a car salesman. He worked at nearly every car brand around back then.
I often found myself in large, shiny showrooms where the bright fluorescent lights seemed to bounce off the linoleum floors. The most neutral, least offensive song was playing softly in the background. Outside of the building, hundreds of new cars waited in the parking lot for customers. Inside the building, salespeople paced nervously or fidgeted around sitting at their desks, waiting for a potential customer to show up.
Surrounded by spotless cars and that incessant new car smell, I learned about the differences between the models offered, sales tactics designed to match a person’s needs and interests to features of a car, and the importance of building trust instead of ripping people off. I heard horror stories of people paying more than they should have, waiting hours for the salesperson to “go speak to the manager”, or being treated poorly at the finance office as they were minutes away from signing the final paperwork.
My father, fortunately, refused to let this happen to his customers.
“Your reputation matters. Be good to people and they’ll be good to you.”
Years later, after moving back to Houston, I once again found myself in a dealership. But this time, it was my father’s used car business. He had bought his own lot and was selling cars online. I’d wash cars in the sweltering hot Houston heat, take photos, write a description of the vehicle, and post it on eBay. At the time, buying a car online was unusual. But the demand was there, and the business did well. I still couldn’t shake how bizarre it was that people would fly or drive halfway across the country to pick up a used car without having spoken with a car salesman or seen the car in person. At the time, I didn’t realize how technology was slowly changing the car buying experience.
From curiosity to Tesla in less than an hour
Fast forward 20 years to last Saturday, as I’m sitting at a family member’s house, bored out of my mind, doom scrolling on my phone.
A friend of mine had just picked up a Tesla earlier that day and raved about how seamless the purchase was.
“Incredibly easy….no pushy in person BS.”
Curious, I visited the Tesla website and was greeted with an offer to take a Tesla for a spin during a demo drive. The nearest showroom was less than 10 minutes away AND I could schedule a demo drive 45 minutes from now. How convenient!
I booked the time, uploaded a photo of my driver license, digitally signed my life away, and headed out with my 8 year old son, who was only more than happy to accompany me to test drive a Tesla.
The nearest Tesla showroom is in Houston’s Galleria mall. Unlike a traditional dealership, Tesla carries no inventory in most of their locations. It’s like Warby Parker, but for cars. You can try the car out and there are advisors to help you make decisions, but the majority of the buying process and even delivery of the car happens outside of the showroom.
After we arrived, an advisor came by, asked a few questions, grabbed the access card for a Tesla, and took us downstairs to the parking garage. He explained the car’s basic features, asked if I had any questions, and then sent us on our way.
For the next 45 minutes, I zoomed around the city with my son in the backseat. Just me and him, no salesperson accompanying us for the drive. We tried out features (yes, self driving is impressive), blasted the stereo (the sound is surprisingly good for a stock system), played with mood lighting (pick your favorite color), tried out caraoke (karaoke, but in the car), and experienced what it was like to go from 0 to 60 in 4.2 seconds.
Eventually, we made our way back to the showroom. When I returned the car, we talked through different configurations with the advisor. Together, we came up with a quote for a vehicle configuration I liked. At Tesla, there is no negotiation or back and forth. There is no manager approval. The screen in front of me clearly laid out financing options, the total price including tax, title, and license, and the expected delivery day.
I told the advisor I wasn’t quite ready and needed to convince my partner, to which he quickly replied:
“Why don’t you just borrow the car for the night?”
My eyes widened.
More time to play with self driving? More time to listen to my favorite tracks at damage inducing decibel levels? A Saturday night with a new Tesla? I tried to feign excitement and calmly replied:
“Sure, I guess that’s a good idea.”
As I was leaving, the advisor said that if I decided to purchase a car later in the day, I could place the order from the app or website. I could even use Apple Pay. Apparently you can use Apple Pay to order a Tesla.
When I returned the next day, the advisor asked how it went. I mentioned that we still weren’t ready. Without hesitation, he shrugged, said he understood, and asked if he could follow up sometime in the future. I then handed him the Tesla access card and walked out. He didn’t run after me trying to convince me with some last minute deal or send follow up emails or phone calls begging me to come back. It was painless.
What strikes me the most about the experience is that an existing car manufacturer would struggle to try to create this environment. With large plots of land, thousands of vehicles in inventory, and a labor force full of salespeople, switching to a shopping mall showroom with two advisors would disrupt how these companies work.
But when someone from outside of an industry comes in, they have the opportunity to rethink the entire buying experience from start to finish, to make seismic shifts in how things are done in a way that makes them stand out. And Tesla, for better or for worse, has changed the car buying experience, offering a glimpse into what the future might look like from curiosity to new car in no time.
We're mulling over whether to get a Tesla (there are a gazillion of them in our neighborhood) or a Cadillac Lyriq. I 'd prefer not to give Musk our money, but your notes about the customer experience are striking a chord.