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New Jersey Removes Legal Impediment To Direct Tesla Sales

Posted by timothy on from the beating-back-mob-rule dept.

As reported by The Verge, the rule-makers of New Jersey have relented, and will now allow a slightly freer market for cars. Almost exactly one year after it was banned from selling its cars directly in New Jersey, Tesla will be back in business in the Garden State. Governor Chris Christie signed into law a bill this afternoon that reversed last year's ban. The new legislation comes with some limits. Tesla can only open a total of four direct sale dealerships and has to operate at least one service center. But it's a major win following a heated war of words that saw Tesla CEO Elon Musk compare local dealers to a mafia protection racket subverting the democratic process.

4 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. Just 4? by jlv · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because if they opened more than four, that would be just... what?

    1. Re:Just 4? by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I lived 35 years in Jersey and my family is still mostly there. I had a few years when all I did was drive from one dealership to another doing auto insurance claims. The place is full of car dealerships. They tend to be in clusters along old highways, though sometimes embedded in urban neighborhoods too. The last thing Jersey needs is more car dealerships and lots. So I can see the numerical limits as having some merit. It's a crowded place, and more lots competing for the same number of buyers is not really an improvement, however much Elon Musk doesn't want to use existing dealer networks. Or how much people want Tesla electric vehicles out on the road.

      Yeah, if only there were a way for everybody together to decide how many auto dealerships are needed. We could call it a "market".

      But, yeah, silly stuff. We should centrally plan how many dealerships there should be. It'll work out much better.

      --
      Do you have ESP?
  2. Re:Sad to see the Republicans always... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What Tesla driver isn't going to want to show off their car?

    Yes, what Tesla driver doesn't want a bunch of strangers driving their car and possibly robbing/assaulting/killing them?

  3. Re:Jesus! by Zobeid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why does this lie keep getting repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated. . . It's been going on for YEARS now. It gets frustrating after a while, especially since anybody could spend a couple of minutes with Google and find out the facts.

    I think most normal people without an axe to grind understand that there are other sources of electrical power besides coal, and that we do have nuclear plants, and we do have hydro plants, and we do have natural gas, and we do have wind farms, and we even have a small (but rapidly growing) amount of solar. Some of them may even known that the percentage of power from coal in the US has been dropping for years and is well under half now. So, when you talk about a highly polluting coal-powered electric car, you're only making yourself look dumb in front of everyone.