Tesla Goes to the Mall and Asks for a Government Loan

Tesla plans store in Bellevue, Wash.

Tesla Motors appears to be a great place as its new Model S sedan gets closer to appearing on streets on showroom floors. One of those showrooms will be in the ritzy Bellevue Square mall, where rents are probably extremely expensive, but where many of the electric-car maker's customers and potential customers live.

But with the company's recent defense of the the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Program, which it has been a beneficiary of, could make it's mall shopping problematic.

Especially if the rumors that Tesla is looking for more government loans are true.

It's interesting that Tesla would open in the mall where rents are high and test drives problematic, when there are thousands of empty car dealerships across the U.S. causing headaches for local governments.

But Bellevue Square was one of the first places to install charging stations for electric cars, which was very smart considering how many Nissan Leafs are in the area. This will be Tesla’s 15th store in the U.S. and the 2nd store in the greater Seattle area.