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Michigan Latest State To Ban Direct Tesla Sales
An anonymous reader writes As many expected, Michigan Governor Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed a bill that bans Tesla Motors from selling cars directly to buyers online in the state. When asked what Tesla's next step will be, Diarmuid O'Connell, vice president of business development, said it was unclear if the company would file a lawsuit. "We do take at their word the representations from the governor that he supports a robust debate in the upcoming session," O'Connell said. "We've entered an era where you can buy products and services with much greater value than a car by going online."
Direct sales, when no franchise has been offered, is no business of the state to regulate. Great Job everyone on voting for idiots who like to control everything.
Vote Libertarian in two weeks.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
America always talks about how the Free Market help keep prices down and innovation high. It's clear from this that we have not had a free market in a long time. New business models come along to compete with old ones, and people pass stupid laws to prevent innovation. Sigh.
The US has 'socialized' markets; most everything innovative is state subsidized (i.e. socialized: paid with your tax money) and state-protected (aerospace, oil, pharma, bio). Everything that's truly innovative, as in the "High Praise the US of A Land of Opportunity" (sure...), --achieved by personal struggle and personal enterprise--, that's who that famous Free Market is for.
Tesla should just wait and be embraced by GM, so they, GM, could either obtain heavy subsidies for it, or kill it off, whichever suits them best. Or, Tesla might move elsewhere, where the market operates similarly, but they don't lie about it calling it 'Free'.
Bans on direct sales of vehicles are nonsense, regardless!
The idea that forcing a "middleman" to exist, by the sake of legislation requiring it (because you know.... creates jobs!), is utterly flawed.
Manufacturers would, most likely, encourage (to the point of helping fund) local distributors/dealers regardless of any laws demanding it. When you sell enough volume of a product - it starts making sense to get other entities to help sell it for you.
Tesla Motors helps illustrate the need to REPEAL any existing law preventing them from doing direct sales!
They don't (yet) do enough volume to find it beneficial to sell through a dealer network. So why not accept that at face value, and let them do business the way they believe is most beneficial? Chances are, if they sell enough vehicles, they'll eventually WANT to work with established dealers to carry their brand. Teslas will eventually start showing up in appreciable numbers on the used car lots of existing dealerships anyway.
It's more like "is there anything else we can try to save Detroit from the evil non-Detroit manufacturers". Sadly, there's no saving Detroit.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
I can't justify two cars, and if I own a car, it has to be able to drive 1000 miles in a day.
If you routinely have to drive so far then an electric wouldn't work for you.
However, if driving long distances is rare then an electric plus occasional rental (e.g. zip) ought to work.
You'd sing a different tune if you went for a test ride. The "Ford/GM/whatever domestic shit they're peddling these days" dealerships are shitting bricks because their wares are junk. Nobody would buy a Corvette, Camaro or Charger if they could afford a Tesla, and those Teslas are coming down in price. Factor in the near-zero maintenance costs and the dealers who thrive on overcharging for service and it all makes sense.
I'm certainly no fan of the Republican Party, but the PATRIOT Act and all its progeny were bipartisan.
And the surveillance state got out of hand under the Republicans, but it didn't get any better under the Democrats, so I'm not seeing any partisan moral high ground here.
Ignorance killed the cat. Curiosity was framed.