Now that is customer service: Steve Lussier, mayor of Sherbrooke in Quebec Eastern Townships, was ready for a new car, and as a hybrid vehicle owner for the past 15 years, wanted something electric.But his long-trusted Infiniti-Nissan dealership the one he bought his Infiniti Q50 Hybrid and (rare) Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid (still owns it) from didnt have a new 100-per-cent electric model to offer him.Odds are it wont for another two or three years.So the dealership pulled some strings and got him what he wanted, a used 2018 Tesla Model 3 with just 30,000 kilometers on the clock, traded in by a local businessman.In one day, the transaction was done, says Lussier, who took delivery of the well-equipped full-electric sedan last Friday. I still have discover some of its features its such an advanced-techno car but for now, I very happy about it.Our story would normally end here, but Infiniti Sherbrooke posted about the deal on its social media and inadvertently inspired numerous blog posts blowing the whole thing up headlines along the lines of mayor turning green or Infiniti dealership admits it doesn’t have electric models.The dealerships Facebook page was flooded with comments about how the brand, in an effort to retain a loyal customer, instead lost him to Elon Musk, or how Infinitis doing Teslas marketing for it.Jean-Sbastien Poulin, co-owner of Infiniti de Sherbrooke, cant believe all this fuss when, bottom line, his client wanted an electric car. Infinitis brand doesnt have yet an electric car. So I found a solution.There are plenty of dealerships that sell other brands vehicles to accommodate their customers why all these roadblocks suddenly thrown at us?And of course, Infiniti isnt the only luxury brand without a pure electric offering. Try shopping for EVs at Acura, Mercedes-Benz, Lincoln, Cadillac, Land Rover or even Lexus, the haut-de-gamme arm of hybrid hype-builder Toyota. Yes, Lussier could have bought an Infiniti-adjacent Nissan Leaf, a good vehicle (he) recently test-drove for a whole week, but he says its not where I wanted to go. Ditto the thought of heading to Sherbrooke BMW for a new i3.He wasnt content waiting a year on an admittedly attractive new Polestar, and could have been lured into a Jaguar I-Pace if the brand had had staff on hand to answer his questions when he visited the Salon du véhicule électrique in Saint-Hyacinthe last October. Oops.But then, Lussier was already hooked on a Tesla anyway. I put a $1,000 a year ago to reserve a brand-new one, he told Driving.ca. After a test drive last summer, he fell in love with the Californian electric sedan. One of my municipal councillors already owns one, and he loves it, too.Lussier didnt suddenly turn green either. (Next week at city hall,) we are going to announce additional funding to help our citizens finance their home EV-charging stations, the Mayor confided to this author.We have been doing so with a $500 municipal subsidy since 2013, but it became so popular, with more than 300 requests a year, we had to review the budget allowance. So well reveal something else next Monday.Even greener, Lussier says hes set to purchase his first electric motocross bike from the local Valcourt Bombardier (BRP), which last February bought up the now-defunct California-based Alta all-electric motorcycle company.Asked if he will eventually buy an electric Infiniti when they hit the Sherbrooke showroom, Lussier says Im eager to test-drive what my dealership will offer, but if ever I want to buy another Tesla, I know that once again, it will accommodate
Origin: An Infiniti dealership sells a Tesla to Sherbrooke’s mayor – and everybody goes crazy