San Carlos-based Tesla Motors Inc. may be one step closer to selling its $100,000 electric sports cars in Newport Beach.
Earlier this month, the city of Newport Beach approved electric car repairs at the former Rolls-Royce building on Pacific Coast Highway.
Tesla was waiting for approval to do repairs before it signs a lease, said Patrick Alford, city planning manager.
It’s not certain if Tesla has yet signed a lease. The company didn’t return phone calls.
Newport Beach is home to several luxury dealerships, including Newport Auto Center, which sells Bentley, Porsche and Audi models; Fletcher Jones Motorcars, which sells Mercedes-Benz and Maybach autos; and Ferrari & Maserati of Newport Beach.
Tesla rival Fisker Automotive Inc. of Irvine is set to deliver an $80,000-plus plug-in hybrid in the fall, according to Automotive World.
Shelly Automotive Group, which sells Mer-cedes-Benz and BMW autos in Irvine and Buena Park, is Fisker’s Orange County dealer.
The Wall Street Journal recently included both Tesla and Fisker in its top 10 venture-funded clean technology companies list. Fisker was No. 6 and Tesla was No. 10.
Lamborghini Moves
Lamborghini is searching for a permanent home in OC.
After Santa Ana-based Lamborghini Orange County closed last year following fraud charges against its owners, Lamborghini sought a new franchisee.
Now there is a Lamborghini Newport Beach, which, for now, is based in Huntington Beach.
California represents about one-third of Lamborghini’s North American sales.
Volkswagen AG’s Automobili Lamborghini SPA, which has its North American headquarters in Santa Monica, chose Ferrari & Maserati of OC to be the exclusive seller of Lamborghinis here.
The dealer group has three Ferrari dealerships, including dealerships in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, and two Lamborghini dealerships, said Safa Edward Bodagh, general manager of Lamborghini of Newport Beach.
Italy’s Fiat SPA owns Ferrari and Maserati. Both cars are made by hand in Italy.
Bodagh said Lamborghini of Newport Beach has plans to move the dealership, possibly to Newport Beach. But that’s not for certain.
“We’re still looking at a bunch of locations,” he said.
The dealership has been busy since it opened earlier this year, Bodagh said.
“There’s a lot of pent-up demand,” he said.
GM Franchise
La Habra-based Don Steves Chevrolet, which lost its General Motors Co. franchise when the company cut back, may be reinstated, according to the Whittier Daily News.
GM terminated thousands of franchisees as the automaker restructured its business. Many of the dealers that were terminated, including Don Steves, appealed. GM plans to reinstate about 660 of the more than 2,000 it pink slipped.
General Manager Donald Steves could not be reached for comment, but he told the Whittier newspaper that GM was set to review its operations. The family-owned dealer has been in business since 1952, according to its Web site.
Costco in Bella Terra
San Jose-based DJM Capital Partners Inc.’s Bella Terra mall in Huntington Beach has signed Costco, which will move into the former Mervyns location.
Costco Wholesale Corp. will be the second major retailer moving into Bella Terra. Whole Foods Market Inc. signed a lease at the former Circuit City location. It’s expected to open in the fall.
The Costco store, about 154,000 square feet, is expected to generate $1.2 million in annual revenue for the city of Huntington Beach. It’s expected to employ 200 full-time and part-time workers.
It will be a large format Costco, which includes a gas station.
The store will take up to 14 months to finish once it’s approved by the city.
Gates Sighting
Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates caused a stir when he recently visited the new Microsoft Store at The Shops at Mission Viejo. He signed autographs and chatted with customers.
The store also jumped in as title sponsor for Mission Hospital’s fundraiser, the 14th Annual Valiant Women Luncheon, held recently at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel.
Surprise Award
The Shops at Anaheim GardenWalk won an award for marketing, which might seem surprising given the mall’s ongoing struggle to draw local shoppers.
The mall is set to be sold in a foreclosure auction April 8. The original auction date, set for this month, was postponed.
New York-based International Council of Shopping Centers awarded the Shops its Gold U.S. Maxi(mum) Award in its annual Maxi Awards competition, which “honor and recognize the premier marketing, community outreach, sales promotions and visual merchandizing programs undertaken solely within the U.S by U.S.-based retail real estate professionals and companies.”
The award was given earlier this month in Chicago.
The mall won in the “cause marketing” category for its Anaheim in Motion: History Comes to Life campaign, which used vacant space at the center for 20 large murals that depicted the history of Anaheim. The mall worked with 35 community organizations and local schools to create the history promotion.
