I think this last line of the article is very important. This has the power to get the consumer on Tesla's side of this fight. If enough of the right people in Texas (and other problem states) want this car and think the laws are stupid... they'll need to find a way to make that happen. Laws can be changed. If not then they'll just get them out of state.
It's very unfortunate that the state is Texas and not a state like Rhode Island. They (dealers) have 15 hours of protection in Texas.
The fear for the dealers is not that Tesla will go around them, but that other manufacturers will follow. The big car makers already have experience setting up alternative brands to play with techniques that are too radical for their mainstream business (remember Saturn?), so it would be easy enough for something like GM spinning the Volt off as a new car company, not just a Chevy, and running Tesla-style sales.
If that happens, dealers are doomed.
Suddenly they'll speak convincingly about the benefits of centralized markets, price controls and protectionist trade policies with no sense of irony.
If you want something _notable_, get me a politician standing up for principles which may be against their immediate self-interest (e.g. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo, on recent IRS shenanigans).
Well, maybe a farmer. This Idahoan doesn't hold with the farm subsidy system currently going.
Firstly, there is a reason why, when driving through small towns, the names you see on the car dealerships are among the richest (if not the richest) around. Further, it is far from shocking that they have leveraged the power they have to entrench themselves.
What is so special about Texas that you would think they would be unique?
If the tea party were a state it would be Texas and Austin would be forced out.
There's probably a non-trivial amount of model specific knowledge needed to repair a Tesla that can't be picked up at a general mechanics' school. Maybe when Tesla's sales volume increases there will be a higher demand for mechanics that Tesla couldn't fill and 3rd party shops will open.
disclaimer, I work a major auto parts supplier, etc. It will be very very interesting to see if tries to circumvent this law, which I doubt he can. If anything shuts down his expansion it may be through this route. As in, they may force them to curtail selling until they can provide the independent support.
And the whole thing takes a turn for the absurd when you consider electric cars. Sure, force manufacturers to provide documentation on how to replace a bumper.. but its purely naive to think you could have just any mechanic service a completely computer controlled high-voltage battery compartment.
I'm not sure I understand this argument. If I follow this argument to completion, what they are basically saying is that when you have lots of middlemen selling the same product, that "preserves" competition between them, limiting the amount of additional cost they add. Wouldn't removing the middleman also remove that additional cost?
Why he thinks competition between brands isn't enough to counteract this I have no idea.
But aren't they the only ones selling tesla cars to the dealers anyway? Couldn't they just inflate their prices to the dealers?
This is not medicine we're talking about (where I can see pharmacists as an important part of the system).
How can it even be suggested to be illegal to open up a store and sell your own product? Should Apple be barred from selling their own products in Apple stores and go through Walmart instead?
I loathe buying cars so much because of the snakes that run those Dealerships. They want the car buying process to be so excruciatingly painful so people will leave money on the table to "Just take my money and make the pain go away".
How far are Dealers willing to go to make it illegal for Tesla to sell cars anywhere? Would they go so far as to outlaw the production of Tesla vehicles in America because it goes against the Dealer protection racket?
Well, this is why I bought my last car used from Carmax. Sure, you probably spend more than you you might spend if you were willing to go to a dealer and haggle, but I found it to be worth the premium.
"Can you beat this price?"
"Yes." --> I just beat the Carmax price.
"No." --> I leave with my money (this one won't happen).
On the other hand, I think the dealership model exists for a reason. There's a racket aspect to it, but would a Ford or GM really want to manage customer sales and showrooms all over the US?
Yeah, that's a great reason for the dealerships to exist, but not one for them to have some sort of legally protected chunk of the market.
full disclosure: I work in the automotive industry. (Although not for them)
I've bought two Jeeps, two Corvettes, a Buick, a Camry Hybrid, an Infiniti G37, and my wife's Lexus CT200h from Carmax (over ~12 years). The experience has always been extremely pleasant. I hate to haggle. Hate it. Carmax is awesome if you're looking for a used car.
"I sat down in Palo Alto with Elon Musk, hat in hand, and said we want to partner with you, you can have it exactly as you want it — 'Tesla of Austin,' " said Wolters of the Texas dealers association. "You can do it just as you want to, within our law, you just can't own the showroom."
Musk, Wolters recalled, didn't cotton to the suggestion, leaving the room quickly, but not before pledging to spend an inordinate amount of money to battle automobile franchise laws.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732476700457848...
