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PRESS RELEASE
Tesla Motors Opens Chicago Store
Test-Drives of the Electric Car Available Starting January 21st at Tesla's Chicago Store
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tesla Motors, the only automaker producing highway-capable EVs will celebrate the opening of its Chicago store on Thursday and offer test drives throughout the weekend of the world's most exciting electric vehicle, the Tesla Roadster.
The City of Chicago, in collaboration with Chicago Area Clean Cities Coalition and Gas Technology Institute, was a recipient of a US Department of Energy 2009 Clean Cities Petroleum Reduction Technologies grant. The award aims to reduce vehicle emissions, displace 3.08 million gasoline gallon equivalents of petroleum every year, deploy 554 alternative fuel and hybrid vehicles and install 149 alternative-fuel fueling and electric vehicle charging stations throughout the Chicago region.
"With over 50 Roadster owners in the area, Chicago is an important market and strategic base for Tesla," said Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
US Roadster customers get a $7,500 federal tax credit and the Illinois Alternate Fuels Rebate Program provides a rebate of $4,000.
Tesla's Chicago store, located at 1053 W Grand Ave., is also the newest regional hub for Tesla's pioneering mobile service squad. Professional technicians known as Tesla Rangers will travel to customers' homes and perform annual inspections, firmware upgrades and other services. Tesla uniquely offers "house calls" so all customers can enjoy service from their home or office.
Tesla's house-call approach is an innovative initiative to give customers peace of mind – whether they live in Chicago, Indianapolis or Iowa City. The Chicago facility will be the service hub for customers throughout Illinois and the Midwestern United States.
The Roadster Sport, with an acceleration of 0-60 in 3.7 seconds, consumes no gasoline. Owners simply charge the Roadster overnight and wake up to the equivalent of a full tank – roughly 240 miles of driving. The Roadster requires less routine maintenance than conventional cars. It does not need regular oil changes or exhaust system work. Roadsters have no spark plugs, pistons, hoses, belts or clutches to replace. Zero tailpipe emission means no smog checks.
About Tesla
Tesla's goal is to produce increasingly affordable cars to mainstream buyers – relentlessly driving down the cost of EVs. San Carlos, Calif.-based Tesla sells cars online and has delivered nearly 900 Roadsters to customers in North America and Europe. In addition to South Florida, Tesla has showrooms in California's Silicon Valley and Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Boulder, South Florida, London, Munich and Monaco.
The Tesla Roadster is faster than many sports cars yet more efficient than a Hybrid. With an EPA-estimated range of 244 miles per charge, it costs less than $5 to charge.
(Crain’s) — Joe Perillo Sr. is turning into a vulture investor amid the shakeout in the auto sales industry, filing a $6.6-million foreclosure suit on a prime site owned by rival luxury car dealer Joe Abbas in the former Montgomery Ward & Co. complex.
The property, the south end of an 800-car garage that fronts Chicago Avenue and stretches north along Larrabee Street, was acquired in 2007 by Mr. Abbas, who at the time was expanding his own rapidly growing business, Luxury Motors Inc.
Mr. Abbas planned to place a showy facade on the building, with the showroom and service area taking up about 40,000 square feet. The entrepreneur’s plan included moving a River North Infiniti dealership he once controlled to the site.
Amid a widespread downturn in auto sales, Mr. Abbas has been particularly hard hit. He recently sold off his locations on the Gold Coast and Downers Grove to Mr. Perillo, whose company has a Lincoln-Mercury-Saab dealership at 1111 W. Diversey Parkway and a BMW dealership at 1035 N. Clark St.
Mr. Abbas, who has previously said he wants to get out of the auto business, did not return calls requesting comment.
Related story: BMW dealer buying 2 local Bentley franchises
The move by Mr. Perillo is another example of the consolidation sweeping through auto sales industry. On the one hand, American manufacturers earlier this year canceled agreements with many longtime dealerships, reducing the amount of competition.
Meanwhile, better-established dealers have begun snapping up at a bargain dealerships that have been struggling because of the recession.
“You will see the bigger, stronger dealers get bigger,” says David Justh, an executive vice-president with CB Richard Ellis Inc. based in Oak Brook who focuses on auto dealerships.
Manufacturers “gravitate toward the better operators, because part of being a good operator is being reasonably well-capitalized,” he says.
Before filing suit, Mr. Perillo personally bought two loans on the property, 530 W. Chicago Ave., totaling $8.3 million, from MB Financial Bank. How much of a discount, if any, Mr. Perillo got on the notes could not be determined.
The loans, issued in 2007 and 2008, are roughly equal to the price a venture owned by Mr. Abbas paid when he bought the site from developer Centrum Properties Inc., property records show.
