N. Carolina May Ban Tesla Sales To Prevent "Unfair Competition"

nametaken writes with this excerpt from Slate: "From the state that brought you the nation's first ban on climate science comes another legislative gem: a bill that would prohibit automakers from selling their cars in the state. The proposal, which the Raleigh News & Observer reports was unanimously approved by the state's Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday, would apply to all car manufacturers, but the intended target is clear. It's aimed at Tesla, the only U.S. automaker whose business model relies on selling cars directly to consumers, rather than through a network of third-party dealerships. ... [The article adds] it's easy to understand why some car dealers might feel a little threatened: Tesla's Model S outsold the Mercedes S-Class, BMW 7 Series, and Audi A8 last quarter without any help from them. If its business model were to catch on, consumers might find that they don't need the middle-men as much as they thought." State laws imposing restrictions on manufacturers in favor of dealers aren't new, though; For more on ways that franchise operations have "used state regulations to protect their profits" long before Tesla was in the picture, check out this 2009 interview with Duke University's Michael Munger.

Comments

Re:Cherry-picking

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, when Ferrari and Lamborghini outsell the 5-series and A6, then those companies will truly be something meaningful.

Re:The best part of the article is at the bottom

[WGFCrafty]

This is not necessarily all bad, since rich people may be less corruptible, since they don't need the money.

Uh, what?

Re:The best part of the article is at the bottom

[Reverand Dave]

Looking at it like this could mean that Tesla is out to eliminate the unctuous feeling of dealing with car salesman, used or otherwise, face to face. This might put a lot of shady scumbags out of a job. There are only so many seats in congress so not all of them will be readily employable again.