It was a long wait for those of us who jumped on the Tesla bus early, but now there's finally enough room for everyone in Pittsburgh to ride. The Service Center in Wexford threw open their doors for a VIP Grand Opening Party Thursday night and we set foot inside the new facility for the first time, along with a large group of local owners and reservation holders.
As expected, the Pittsburgh location closely follows the Tesla aesthetic seen at other service centers and stores. Everything we
first revealed in the blueprints has been buffed and polished into a modern showplace.
Before flashing a bunch of pictures past you, let's get to the news and information everyone wants to know:
The new Service Center is already taking appointments for repairs, beginning the week of March 6th.
Sales/test drives are available now at the new Service Center. They will remain available at
the Ross Park Mall gallery also, which is NOT closing.
The type of foot traffic the mall location gets will continue to be very different from that of the standalone store in Wexford, so both locations will work together to coordinate test drives-- from both locations-- and reach out to the general public with the good news of electric mobility.
Within the state, the Wexford property is now the second service center and will split service territory with the service center located in
Devon (outside Philadelphia). Owners in the middle of the state can expect their service needs to be met by whichever center is closer or best able to schedule them.
If you've been counting, that's now three Tesla locations in PA-- but wait, there's more!
The mall in King of Prussia also features a Tesla gallery. That's not far from the Devon Service Center and the coordination and logistics between those two Philadelphia-area properties will be a model for how Tesla operates in Pittsburgh.
According to an agreement made with the state, Tesla can operate only 5 stores in Pennsylvania, so the terminology regarding these four locations (store vs. gallery) can be confusing. In all honesty, I have no idea whether we're up to "two stores" or "four stores" yet!
Expanding our focus more regionally, the Supercharger hole along I-80 in Pennsylvania remains-- sorry, no update on that-- but Tesla appears to have entered into a contract for another facility near Allentown.
Reports in Lehigh Valley Business suggest the building isn't suited to become Tesla's third service center in Pennsylvania, but might be ideal as a parts supply hub for the New York City and Philadelphia territories. Thanks to
Josh Thomas for the tip-- it will be interesting to see what this new property becomes.
With the news all up to date, let's take a look around the new Tesla Service Center!
Four High-Powered Wall Chargers (HPWC) are installed outside.
Walking inside the main customer entrance, you're greeted with a bright Tesla-red reception area.
To the left of reception are the service desks where advisors will process repair orders.
The bar-style desk and stools will eventually be moved into the customer delivery or sales areas.
Glass windows look out from the service advisor area into the large entrance area of the garage.
The garage entrance opens up into the vast service area with multiple bays, lifts and a secured parts storage area.
Behind the reception desk is the customer lounge. There are also bathrooms here and coffee.
The customer lounge also has a small work room in the back corner and some dizzy chairs.
This view looks back out to the main entrance to help orient you.
To the right of the reception desk is the sales floor.
Hopefully we'll see a demo chassis "skateboard" rolled into here... because I like to look at them!
The sales floor has the usual material swatches to help you work out a color configuration.
There is room on the sales floor for three vehicles, or two and a chassis demonstrator.
Large wall displays highlight various features of the Tesla Model S and X.
Interactive displays can be used to configure an S or X, just like on the Tesla website.
Another display has an interactive map displaying Supercharger locations-- Road Trip!
Behind the sales floor is the customer delivery area, overlooking Route 19, with opening wall panels on the front side of the building for customers to drive home through.
After final preps and cleaning in the service area, the vehicles can be driven right into the delivery room. Two deliveries can be presented here at a time, with 50 amp plugs to charge new cars up to go.
The service area has several lifts for access underneath and probably triple as many places to park cars for repairs that don't require climbing underneath a multi-ton vehicle. My understanding is all the "refresh" cars are marketing/sales demos and the "nosecone" cars are the service loaners.
There is also an alignment machine that-- on the night of the Grand Opening Party-- was being used as a "cat tree" type staging area for an S to look out at the traffic going by.
Tesla has built a spotless and modern facility out of the dowdy Ethan Allen store that used to be here. It's been a long wait, but it appears to have been worth it. Once fully staffed, this should be a hive of activity as vehicles from throughout the region are ferried in and out for delivery and service.
Congratulations to
all the contractors and workers who spent so many hours building this facility and best of luck and wishes to those who will call this their workplace home!
If I've helped you make the leap to Tesla, please message me so I can answer your questions.
Thanks for visiting us here!
CLICK to read more at
www.TeslaPittsburgh.com, check out the videos on our YouTube channel at
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