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New Jersey Removes Legal Impediment To Direct Tesla Sales
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.
Also, with the Tesla model dealerships don't really work. Every car Tesla sells is made to order. There is no inventory sitting around at dealerships. The customer orders exactly what they want and it's made to order. This is very different than a traditional dealership where the dealer buys an inventory of cars then turns around to sell it to the customer.
Yeah it seems the only reason you'd want to go to the dealership would be to look at the car and maybe get a test drive. Tesla should crowdsource this to their user base. Maybe they could receive a spiff off of their yearly maintenance fee for demoing the car for prospects. What Tesla driver isn't going to want to show off their car? Everything else from optioning to ordering could be handled online.
The last thing Jersey needs is more car dealerships and lots. So I can see the numerical limits as having some merit.
Have you ever been to a Tesla dealership? They are nothing like typical dealerships. They don't have sprawling lots full of cars. They are small, typically in pedestrian friendly areas nowhere near other dealerships, and have just enough cars that you can look at the models and options, with a few more cars for test drives. They're more like a retail store than a dealership lot. Here is a blog with pictures of dealerships around the world.
Each car is built to order, and you come pick it up at the dealership or they deliver it to you. I suspect the limit is a compromise with opponents of Tesla's model, not anything to do with too many dealerships.