A petition has been started on the WhiteHouse.gov website to allow Tesla Motors to sell its own cars directly to its customers in all 50 states of the USA. If you think Tesla should be able to sell its cars directly to customers, you should sign this petition.
Tesla Model X. Obtained from Tesla Motors Pressroom.
As the petition said: “State legislators are trying to unfairly protect automobile dealers in their states from competition.” Another way to put it; various automobile dealer associations have been trying to get state officials to ban automobile manufacturers from selling their own cars directly to customers. They want Tesla to lock into dealership franchises, protecting a dealership racket that has existed for decades.
The associations include:
- VADA: Virginia Automobile Dealers Association;
- MSADA: Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association;
- MADA: Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association;
- NCADA: North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association;
- NYSADA: New York State Automobile Dealers Association.
These organizations have huge pull on state legislatures. As the MSADA website said: “Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association represents the interests of 465 franchised auto and truck dealers.” That equates to thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in annual business.
These laws were originally established to prevent automakers from coming into a market and selling cars to customers at a lower cost, undercutting established dealerships. The auto industry is one of the only industries where the producers have to sell their products through a third part (dealerships). However, since Tesla has no established dealership franchises, they aren’t stepping on anyone’s toes.
But dealership associations feel threatened, and have already managed to keep Tesla out of Texas and Virginia. That is why this petition seeks to keep these proposals preventing Tesla from selling their electric cars from going into law. If the dealers keep pushing, the Feds might step in, and the whole house of cards might come falling down. So sign that petition, won’t you?
Source: WhiteHouse.gov
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