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Tesla vs. Car Dealers: the Lobbyist Went Down To Georgia
McGruber writes The Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) newspaper's Jim Galloway has an update on the behind-the-scenes battles over who can sell you a new car: "Traditional car dealers are in the midst of a legal fight to push Tesla, the fledgling California electric car company, out of Georgia. Never mind that metro Atlanta is one of the hottest markets for electric vehicles in the nation. Signs point to a parallel battle in the General Assembly. Last week, the National Automobile Dealers Association began trolling for sympathetic lawmakers. While Georgia dealers say they have "no plans" to revisit an anti-Tesla bill that failed last year, Tesla is preparing a defense. It has already hired one of the top lobbying firms in Atlanta."
The Georgia Automobile Dealers Association wields considerable influence in the state Capitol; the AJC determined that the Georgia Auto Dealers Association (GADA) had made over $600,000 in recent campaign contributions to state lawmakers. Despite those contributions, a bill to boot Tesla from Georgia mysteriously died during last year's legislative session. While no legislator would claim credit for killing the bill, Galloway noted that Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who presides over the Senate, drives a Nissan Leaf.
The Georgia Automobile Dealers Association wields considerable influence in the state Capitol; the AJC determined that the Georgia Auto Dealers Association (GADA) had made over $600,000 in recent campaign contributions to state lawmakers. Despite those contributions, a bill to boot Tesla from Georgia mysteriously died during last year's legislative session. While no legislator would claim credit for killing the bill, Galloway noted that Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who presides over the Senate, drives a Nissan Leaf.
An industry is using government regulation to stifle competition? Holy cow NO!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
Lobbying, is corruption clear and simple. They should jail everybody connected to it.
So much for "free market" and "competition". Screw that old fashioned shit, let's get back to territory protection and arbitrary monopolies to screw over the custom... I mean, to protect the customer and ensure the highest possible quality.
No, you're not encouraged to try to find out how it should increase quality and create the best product for you when a monopolist can pretty much sell you any crap and you have to buy it, lacking any options.
Politicians? You expect politicians to do anything against that? For real? They're doing exactly the same and benefit from the same monopolizing, anti-competitive mechanisms in their area, you honestly expect them to do something against what they learned is good for them?
Face it, we're fucked.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I have friends who have worked as IT consultants in Detroit. Their inside story is that NADA is more powerful than the automakers. It is not that the auto makers are saints, but the laws governing data sharing between the dealers and the auto makers is very heavily biased in favor of dealers. Even very minor data gathering projects have to go through several layers of approval from NADA. NADA is very suspicious of the automatkers.
There is very good reason for the strained relationship. The automakers would dearly love to ditch the dealership model of sales and go for direct sales. The auto makers believe the dealers are acting in bad faith and against the interests of the makers. Many dealerships are actually selling cars from different vendors. Even when the dealerships are nominally different they are owned by same clan or extended family in a market. They demand the automakers to cut deals with them and they are not above promoting one maker to punish another maker. The present set up is so biased in favor of the dealers, if it at all it is possible to ditch them, the auto makers will boot them in no time.
What NADA is really afraid of is setting a precedent allowing Tesla to sell cars directly breaking their monopoly of access to auto buyers. Americans love cars. Automobile is the second most expensive thing a person buys, after home. (Slowly slipping into third place, behind college tuition). Still car buying is the most unsatisfactory part of car buying. We can thank NADA and its selfish policies for this anomaly. Once Tesla breaks the dike, so NADA believes, all automakers will sue for equal access to the market and the dealerships will be at a huge disadvantage.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
It's like we're not even trying to hide anymore how bribes work in this country. Saying that the association holds influence, and then backing up that claim with exactly how much they've "donated"... Payola is still illegal, prostitution is still illegal, yet, bribing politicians is considered par for the course. Business as usual. I think it's time we called politicians in America what they are. Whores. And they will turn tricks for the measliest of sums.
What in the world are you talking about??
All those dealers are pissing in their pants that they won't be able to as easily provide "value" such as $1000 detail/wax jobs, $10/gallon gas, and ridiculously structured "protection plans"
I'm guessing he's off on some kind of diatribe against Elon Musk.
The "place of Apartheid" could either be South Africa (where Elon Musk is from) or the US deep South up to the 1960's.
Musk dodged the South African draft by emigrating to Canada on his own in his teens. The only 60 minutes reports on Elon Musk are puff pieces that seem driven by a PR engine - no accusations of killing. Gerogia has been politically Republican for the past 20 years. Was the AC talking about some Georgia politician who may have been in Vietnam? Perhaps AC's tinfoil hat is on too tight?
Revolution is the opium of the intellectuals.
Isn't this sales over state lines, which should be federal.
Someone needs to take a chill pill.
make offtopic rants
My post is in response to the "Lobbying, is corruption clear and simple" statement and therefore on topic.
about the groups they hate just to score mod points.
Where does it say that I hate those groups? I just picked two groups that are not industry based.
Way to get your irrelevant political points in.
The point, that you seemed to have missed, is that when any representative of any group talks to a politician it is defined as "lobbying". When Tesla talks to a politician it is called lobbying and every group talks to politicians therefore every group lobbies. The issue is that many perceive industry lobbying as bad while ignoring non-industry lobbying.
BTW, "dumb-as-fuck aspies" could be considered an ad hominem attack. Such attacks just weaken your argument. That coupled with the AC posting just shows how you are unwilling to stand up behind a weak argument.
It might not be just lobbying and and campaign contributions that turn legislators' heads. It could be tax revenue as well. According to this document a lot ff tax revenue is created by car dealerships.
States earn about 20 percent of all state sales taxes from auto dealers, and auto dealerships easily can account for 7–8 percent of all retail employment. The bulk of these taxes (89 percent) are generated by new car dealerships, those with whom manufacturers deal directly.
If States allow direct sales there goes the tax revenue. I am not saying it is a good thing just another incentive for States to keep the franchise laws.
Georgia has the BEST durn govment that MONEY can buy ---- and believe me it HAS been bought
I'm pretty sure the AC actually swallowed her tinfoil hat.
Except when God fearing, free marketing, red states can use them to stifle competition.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
I hope Tesla wins as well! http://fee.org/freeman/detail/...
I have the spurs and the whip going hard on my startup and one of the first things I would contemplate buying with genuinely spare cash would be a Tesla. Mostly for my inner geek but the concept of walking into a Mall (I don't really like malls) store and saying, "I'll take one in black." and not having a sales dick try and bamboozle me for the next 8 hours really really appeals to me.
I was in a restaurant a few months ago with a friend and at a nearby table there were a group of guys who all fit some strange demographic. They were very well groomed but in a Walmart mannequin sort of way. It was all not-GQ and sort of sad. We stared at the lot of them and just couldn't figure out what the hell was wrong with them. Then I realized. We were in a diner near all the car dealerships and this was a bunch of salesmen on a late lunch. I don't ever want to deal with these guys who spend every day trying to figure out ways to rip me off including dressing badly so I think they are stupid.
The reason the laws existed in the first place was because at the dawn of the industry the franchise fees were used for capital by the manufactures. Without the legal protections car makers could simply run the franchisees out of business once they became big enough. To a similar extent when foreign makers moved into the USA the franchise fees helped build the infrastructure.
Now we have a conundrum where Tesla doesn't see itself needing the dealers and is going on it's own. A large chunk of that is based on most buyers are going to be in big cities. They only need need 1 or 2 showrooms per state for the foreseeable future. They don't see the need to build out the showroom network which would require having franchisees. For Tesla the Franchisee system would certainly add another 3-4K to the cost of each car. They'll never get the model 3 to fit into the expected price range going that route.
At the same time you can't just get rid of all the dealer protections because Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, etc would be more than happy to cherry pick the most profitable areas for corporate dealerships. Those dealerships are owed that exclusivity because they invested in the company at the beginning. I personally don't think the dealers give a crap about selling Tesla, but they foresee the big auto makers suing to get rid of franchise laws if Tesla is allowed an exemption.
(Fledgling)
You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.
Nothing to be seen here, move along...
The problem for car dealers are they are one of the the slimiest and contemptible professions around. Buying a car is an ordeal thanks to the upselling, misleading prices, nickel and diming, fine print and sales pressure that goes with it. Car salesmen are on a commission and quotas and they will fuck people over to get them. As such it's very hard to tell what sort of competition dealers provide for each other since they're all on a race to the bottom.
I think Tesla will have to sell cars via dealers but the best way to protect its image is to impose strict provisos that prevent dealers from tarnishing the brand and make the process of buying a car simple, free of pressure and scummy sales tactics. I'm sure Tesla has a few big sticks it could use to ensure compliance and the quality of sale and after market service.
Tesla should live and operate under the same requirements as everyone else. That means having a dealer and support network and being able to bring your car into a nearby dealer for service - not waiting days or weeks for Tesla to fly a technician out to you, at their convenience, to MAYBE be able to fix your car at your home, but maybe not.
Why should Tesla consumers not be protected? I mean, we know they are idiots who have no idea how to perform a risk/benefit analysis, but still, even stupid people deserve the same protections as the rest of us.
The analogy doesn't work. In the song, the Devil accepted when he'd lost.
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
Would somebody please think of the poor buggy whip makers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6RUg-NkjY4
Tesla's idea of selling direct to consumers probably won't scale if and when they become more than a niche market company.
That said, the current system gives more advantages to the consumer: 1) the consumer won't have to arbitrate with an out-of-state company if they are stuck with a lemon for an automobile; 2) The consumer can negotiate a better price by taking advantage of competition between dealerships who are trying to move product that is costing them interest on their floor plan financing.
"the National Automobile Dealers Association began trolling for sympathetic lawmakers."
It would be a cooler story if the National Automobile Dealers association was *trolling* sympathetic lawmakers, instead of *trawling* for them.
They bring the cars from the engineers to the customers. They have people skills damn it!
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
Didn't Henry Ford win, basically, this exact same fight against the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers 100 years ago?
His accent is remarkably similar to David Bowies.. I stand corrected. Hopefully, no eye X-Rays this time.
Revolution is the opium of the intellectuals.