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Tesla's Next Auto-Dealer Battleground State: Georgia
cartechboy (2660665) writes [Elon] Musk and Tesla's biggest hurdle in the U.S. has been bypassing conventional dealerships and selling directly to customers. This concept is something that's illegal in many states thanks to a nationwide patchwork of decades-old franchise laws. Tesla's latest battle is taking place in Georgia where dealers allege that the start-up company is in violation of the state's franchise laws. Not surprisingly, Tesla's fighting back. To sell cars in Georgia, Tesla had to agree to sell fewer than 150 vehicles directly to consumers in the state. Last week the Georgia Automobile Dealers Association complained that Tesla sold 173 vehicles. Tesla hasn't publicly commented on how many vehicles it has sold in Georgia. We've seen time and time again how this story ends, and the writing is clearly on the wall for this case.
Another bit of writing on the wall, though, as reported by the L.A. Times, is that recent electric car sales in the U.S. have been stagnant.
cars people aren't allowed to buy aren't getting bought? whoda thunk it?
There is no way in hell those franchise laws were put in place for the benefit of you and me. They were put in place merely to protect a lucrative profit stream for special interests.
because we(society) are in the post early adopter dip.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
"electric car sales in the U.S. have been stagnant."
"Tesla had to agree to sell fewer than 150 vehicles"
I don't think that is a coincidence.
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Do 'States' Rights' have any applications that aren't kind of embarrassing?
The reason they're stagnant is because there is only one brand worth buying them from is Tesla.
Toyota/Honda has a decent lineup in the upper range with their plugin hybrids but if I'm going to plunk down 50k, it might as well be a Tesla or I can get a gas powered car with identical economy for half that price from better brands.
Perhaps one of the Germans will start entering the market with a better option but the Chevy Volt is crap, Ford and Fiat publicly state they rather don't do it, Fisker was legislated out of business, the rest of them are simply putting in a model because they have to and it shows; it's the same frame as a gas powered car with some batteries slapped into it.
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My local dealers in Georgia do not carry electric cars. To get an electric car you have to order it through them (if their manufacturer actually makes one) or buy online. In other words, car dealers are hurting electric car sales.
I hope Tesla is successful. Car dealerships are an anachronism and offer no value to the consumer. They are just needless friction in the car market and just adds expense and bullshit for us consumers.
Isn't Georgia one of those "small government" red-states? How's that working out?
Yeah, because aside from the uberdollar Tesla Model S there really isn't anything out there that is significantly different then there was 4 years ago. All the EVs are still in this 80-90 mile range unless you got the bucks to buy the Tesla. In a couple years this is going to open up more. Nissan is planning a higher range Leaf and Tesla has some stuff out there for a lower priced EV with (speculated) good range.
I want an EV but I can't do the 90 mile thing. I have a single trip I take about once a month as part of my job that is 107 miles round trip. What day this trip happens on isn't planned and under the right circumstances I may have to take it at a moment's notice. There are charging stations on the way to and from but my current ICE is running well although I'm starting to see the signs that it only has a good 3-4 years left in it. If it were to die today I'd still love to go to an EV but I know that I would be hard pressed as I'd be kicking myself when the new generations of EVs come out. If I could get a Leaf with a solid 120 mile range I'd jump on it the next time my current ICE needed anything that was over a few hundred dollars in repair.
The technology just needs a bit of time to mature and we're already seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The sooner the better, AFAIC.
Isn't Georgia one of those states where a majority of the folks rail against government intrusion and regulations into the private sector?
Must be nice to talk out of both sides of your mouth. Maybe they should get a gig as a sideshow freak.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
from the summary:
"...as reported by the L.A. Times, is that recent electric car sales in the U.S. have been stagnant"
from the LA Times:
"Sales of electric drive vehicles are stuck at about 3.6% of all new car sales for 2014"
"And that's during an otherwise robust sales season. Total figures for August were higher than any time in the last decade."
So the absolute number of electric car sales is increasing but their market share is not. The reporter, one "Charles Fleming," seems not to comprehend that a fixed percentage of an increasing value is itself an increasing value. "Stagnant," is the wrong term to describe an increase in sales. Math is hard.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
(From TFA): "Musk and Tesla's biggest hurdle in the U.S. has been bypassing conventional dealerships and selling directly to customers. "
I don't get why Tesla's biggest hurdle to sales is bypassing conventional dealerships. It seems like their biggest hurdle would be to convince people to purchase a new type of vehicle that had different advantages and disadvantages than anything they had owned before. The linked article on the slowing sales of electric vehicles also refers to that when it mentions that 'the numbers don't pencil out for many purchasers.' So why is Tesla focusing so much energy on getting rid of car dealerships? Couldn't they allow 'Tesla' franchise dealers to sell cars? Wouldn't that result in more retail outlets for Teslas? Wouldn't that result in more places for Tesla owners to go for repairs and parts and wouldn't that result in more people working indirectly or directly to make Tesla a success? Maybe a few dealer salespeople would be able to show buyers how the numbers do pencil out. What am I missing here?
That's how it's supposed to work, right?
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I had some sympathy for Tesla and their fights with states even if I though that they should invest in states first to show some good will. Now they just seem like another evil company trying to make money by empty state coffers rather than making and selling a good product.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
And how much of that stagnancy is because of a lack of options to choose from? I mean, really when you look at it there are VERY few models available as full EV - Tesla, and then a couple little entry levels that have been given EV versions... There's almost nothing available in between, and absolutely nothing in the small/mid SUV or mid-sized sedan or sport coupe markets to choose from.
Until there are more models to choose from that span all the market segments, there's always going to be a limited subset of buyers who will be willing to purchase these as their primary car...
Tesla *has* publicly commented on how many vehicles it has sold in Georgia, it says that the 150 maximum is for a calendar year, while the 173 figure is for October to June and it hasn't hit the 150 mark for 2014.
http://www.autonews.com/articl...
sterling allies of the separate but equal doctrine and creation science, Georgias firm stance against competition from Tesla shouldnt surprise anyone. Texas and Ohio do the same thing when it comes to selling cars in the interest of preserving a relic of a dying baby boomer era. We all know and love the car salesman for his even handed approach, calm demure, and truthful nature right?
another issue of stagnation is price. Outside of California and New York, electric cars largely dont have subsidies. this is partly due to the franchise racket, and partly because other states dont have stringent EPA mandates or emissions standards like california. Tesla is also, according to their website a 'premium' electric vehicle company. The average price for a Model S is around $90,000 US so among the worst wealth gap in history, the remenence of a major housing crisis, a looming student debt crisis, and rampant american unemployment its no wonder most people arent exactly leaping at the opportunity to saddle themselves with this. 90k is, or was, a decent chunk of a home for most people before the collapse.
target demographics are also not to be forgotten. Millenials like myself do not care for cars. give us light rail, busses, and trains but ultimately the thing that matters most to us is not that symbol by which our parents projected their status. cars are expensive to maintain and own for us because we earn less than our parents do and, once again, are commonly saddled with an enormous amount of student debt. make it as futuristic as you want, thats fine, but that centre console only does half the things our smartphones are capable of, and requires us to multitask and drive while using it.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Surely only a bunch of liberal Commies would pass laws that ban citizens from selling legal things to each other? Shame on all those Commie legislators in Georgia!
Tesla had a 2 month backlog (time from order to delivery of a car) of 2 months early this year. In the spring it grew to 3 months. Early summer they upped production to address this, but backlog grew to 4 months. Tesla is building more cars than ever, yet the wait keeps increasing.
"Stagnant" my ass.
All this for a car that was introduced almost 2 years ago and has had virtually no updates during this time. Shows how far ahead of other manufacturers they were.
Of course the laws appear to favor "the people". All laws are spun in that direction. What did you expect -- that the law would state it's purpose as "fleecing the majority for the benefit of the elite few"?
Telsa should be able to operate showrooms where it wants and their competitors will either improve their business practices or perish, period. Let the free market sort this out.
Whenever I see a dealership invoking some obscure franchise law, what I hear is: "We're a dinosaur that can't compete against Telsa."
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
In 1998, Barnes ran for governor again, this time defeating Secretary of State Lewis A. Massey to win the Democratic primary.[9] Running on the themes of education reform and health care reform,[5] he defeated Republican businessman Guy Millner in the general election with a victory of 53% to 44% to become the 80th Governor of Georgia.[2][10]
The Democrats retained control of both houses of the legislature[11] and retained all but two state level offices
In Georgia in the summer?? Yeah, have fun with that.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
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