The company at the heart of one of the greatest controversies in the auto industry can be found at Easton Town Center, next door to American Eagle Outfitters and across the street from Sketchers. The Tesla store has enough room to display one car. And that's fine, because the company has only one model, the Model S, with prices that start at $69,900.

The company at the heart of one of the greatest controversies in the auto industry can be found at Easton Town Center, next door to American Eagle Outfitters and across the street from Sketchers.

The Tesla store has enough room to display one car. And that's fine, because the company has only one model, the Model S, with prices that start at $69,900.

If you want to buy the all-electric car, the deal gets done in an open seating area with white leather chairs.

"We're not taking you into the office out back for a hard sales pitch," said Alexis Georgeson, a Tesla spokeswoman. "It's a comfortable area."

Ten months after coming to Ohio, Tesla faces challenges on many fronts: trying to sell cars in a setting that doesn't look much like a car dealership; defending its business model to regulators and legislators; and expanding its manufacturing at a frenetic pace.

The company has the benefit of a passionate customer base and strong reviews from the automotive press.

But the signs of success have only emboldened Tesla's critics. The company has made enemies because it is a manufacturer that also owns and operates its stores. This is in contrast to major auto brands such as Ford, Toyota and Honda, which sell through a network of independently owned dealerships.

The dealers see Tesla as a threat and have pushed to change state laws, including in Ohio, where a new measure says the company can have no more than three stores.

Through it all, the Easton store - one of about 60 in the country - is selling cars and trying to build a customer base.

Not a hard sale

Last month, Tony Fabrick of the Cleveland area was in town for a friend's wedding and stopped by the Easton store. He came away impressed and is considering buying a Model S.

"The store is quite nice," he said.

He owns XTend Technologies in Broadview Heights, a store that sells home-theater and automation systems. The background gives him a special appreciation for Tesla's on-board electronics.

"The technology in the car is much further advanced than any other car manufacturer I have seen," he said.

While the store hasn't yet sold him a car, it has closed the deal with 68 Ohio buyers this year, according to transaction data compiled by Autoviewonline.com.

Most customers choose options that lead to a much higher price than the $69,900 base. The lowest purchase price from the store was $79,877, and the average price was $98,112, according to the transaction data.

Visitors can look at the various configurations of the model on wall-mounted touch screens. Along the same wall is Tesla merchandise, including T-shirts, infant onesies and travel mugs. For $60, you can own a dog leash with the Tesla logo.

The store has just a few employees. On a weekday morning, there was one staff member present, dressed in a sport coat and jeans. On most weekend days, there might be as many as four people on duty.

"It's not a hard sale," said Georgeson, who is based at the company's California headquarters; local employees declined to be quoted. "It's unlike the dealers that want you to buy today. We spend an average of three hours just telling customers about electric cars."

If you want a test drive, you sign up for a time and a staff member will drive the car to meet you.

Repair service and other technical issues get handled at the company's other local site, a service center at 3435 Morse Rd., which is less than a mile from the store.

Is the retail model working?

"It works for their brand," said Stephanie Brinley, a senior analyst for IHS Automotive. "There are elements that work. It's the vibe, the way that you talk to consumers. All of those things are important."

Tesla has one other store in the state, at Kenwood Town Center in Cincinnati, which opened after the one in Columbus. The company is planning a store in Cleveland but has not said where or when it might open.

The national fight

Existing auto dealers see Tesla's business model almost like an infectious disease. The National Automobile Dealers Association and its state affiliates have fought the company in court and in legislative chambers. They argue that Tesla will encourage other auto brands to try manufacturer-owned stores, which would then compete with independent franchises of the same brands.

They also see Tesla as bad for consumers.

"If you have a manufacturer that is selling vehicles direct to the public and they are the only source for that particular vehicle, there is no competition for the price," said Tim Doran, president of the Ohio Automobile Dealers Association.

His group asked Ohio lawmakers to pass a measure that would have banned Tesla and its business model. After negotiations with Tesla, the sides agreed on a bill that limits the company to three stores. Gov. John Kasich signed it in June.

"Basically, we put a tourniquet on the bleeding," Doran said.

He concedes that the Model S is "a pretty nice car," but he says he wouldn't buy one because there isn't enough of an infrastructure for parts and service.

Jim Ziegler, an Atlanta-based consultant to auto dealers and a columnist for Ward's Dealer Business, perceives Tesla with a mix of reverence and trepidation.

"Elon Musk is a genius, and you can't help but admire the man," he said, referring to Tesla's founder and CEO.

The threat, he said, is that Musk "wants to bust the franchise system."

That's a system Ziegler wants preserved. He thinks the rise of manufacturer-owned stores will lead to less price competition among dealers and lower employee wages.

Primed for growth

Musk founded Tesla in 2003 and began delivering the Model S in 2012.

The company sold about 20,000 of the model last year in North America, which is much less than 1 percent of the market. It is also working on plans for the Model X crossover that will go on sale next year.

All of this is a prologue to the company's planned rollout of the Model 3, a $40,000 car that should be on the market by 2017.

Tesla hopes the model's price point will make it a mainstream hit, with a goal of selling 500,000 vehicles per year by 2020. For some perspective, that is about as many cars as Subaru - an established brand with a much larger dealer network - expects to sell this year in the United States.

Investors are betting on growth, helping to push the company to a market capitalization of about $31 billion.

"As they move forward," said Brinley, the auto analyst, "their challenge is to scale from low volume to medium volume."

dgearino@dispatch.com

@DanGearino