Electric Car Dealers May Plug Into Promenade

For the first time, electric car showrooms may plug into the , joining boutiques and restaurants at the downtown mall, city leaders decided Tuesday.

Despite resistance from some Planning Commissioners who said the sale of cars there would be "Vegas-ish," the City Council voted Tuesday to permit up to four showrooms there.

Councilman Robert Holbrook led the charge to overturn the commission's denial, saying he recalled the unlicensed sale of classic and collectible cars out of a clothing store on the promenade "in the early days."

"People would walk in and say, I wanna buy that Corvette, and he would sale them," Hollbrook said. "I don't think there's anything wrong with allowing this kind of use."

If there were four car makers who want to do this, it would only be a total of 100 square feet of store frontage of 3,000, he added.

Similar set-ups can be found nearby—there's a Coda dealership at the Westfield Century City.

The city has already received one application. Hollbrook said there's interest from Tesla to open a showroom at the north end of the promenade, close to Wilshire Boulevard.

The new ordinance allowing the sale of electric cars on the promenade requires dealers to first obtain permits. The council also enacted limitations:

• Only environmentally friendly vehicles can be sold
• Limit showrooms to 25 feet of linear promenade frontage
• Limit showrooms to 3,500 square feet in size
• Limit the number of on-site display vehicles to five
• Prohibit on-site vehicle service