Tesla Stuck In The Sand In Arizona, But Overall Demand Strong
Tesla wants one thing. Car dealers in Arizona want another. Consumers mostly want what Tesla wants, but car dealers are strong in the realm of lobbying. Car dealers recently won in the Arizona legislature as a bill to grant Tesla Motors the ability to sell Teslas direct to consumers stopped short — not even making it to official consideration.
What is up with this prohibition on this innovative electric auto manufacturer? In Texas, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and Arizona, Tesla is not allowed to set up shop and sell its cars to consumers. Though, Virginia may be warming up to the Silicon Valley startup, and members of the NJ legislature as well as Texas Governor Rick Perry are pushing for a change in their states).
Unfortunately, measures to lift the prohibition are dead in the sand of Arizona, or rather, in the bureaucratic judicial buildings built on that sand. I love the creative slant from Teslamondo: “Tesla stores in Arizona continue to operate like 1920s speakeasy saloons. You have to mutter about buying the contraband within. Musk has ordered honky-tonk pianos to boost the ragtime effect.”
The Phoenix Business Journal continues with more info on the situation:
State Sen. John McComish, R-Ahwatukee, said House Bill 2123 is not being considered by the Arizona Senate. The measure would have lifted current prohibitions on auto manufacturers selling directly to consumers instead of going through dealerships.
…
McComish, who sides with Tesla, said the measure is not progressing in the Senate and the 2014 session is winding down.
“It’s the Senate president’s prerogative to put something up or not. It appears like it’s not,” McComish said of Senate President Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert.
…
Bobbi Sparrow, president of the Arizona Automobile Dealers Association, also confirmed she’s been told the Tesla bill is dead for this year.
And here’s a bit more fun commentary from Teslamondo on other Tesla news: “Elsewhere in the desert, let’s talk about them plateaus. Demand for the Model S is stuck on one, says Barclays Capital: “Elsewhere in the desert, let’s talk about them plateaus. Demand for the Model S is stuck on one, says Barclays Capital. No, demand is still climbing, says Tesla, and that’s with virtually zero marketing effort. Someday Tesla will advertise, you know …”
We’ll give Value Walk — from an article titled “Tesla Model S Demand Not Slowing, Model X Strong Too” — the last word on this matter:
Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has rejected recent reports around the slowing Model S demand.
But perhaps better than the last word, below is the last picture, Teslamondo’s new header:
Related Stories:
With Gigafactory, Tesla Could Become More American Than Ford
New Tesla Gigafactory May Get Greener Raw Materials From Arizona
Tesla Motors Conquers North Carolina
Tesla Still Allowed To Sell Its Own Vehicles In New York
Auto Dealers Say Tesla Opening Stores In Minnesota Is “Not Fair”
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So, no Gigafactory in Arizona, then?
If there was any doubt that the “free market” advocates are hypocrites, let go of it.
Telling a company how to sell has to be a violation of free speech. Since the dealers are the ones lobbying against Tesla while Tesla is offering to build a big plant that will create lots of high-tech jobs, we should just start boycotting dealers so they lose the same number of jobs that Tesla was going to bring here. I just bought a car in Phoenix and we were looking to buy another one but forget it. I’ll go to Nevada and buy it there when I’m ready. Arizona dealers can now kiss my *#W#$#.
Not free speech. But it’s likely that AZ would lose were this to go to court.
It wouldn’t take 15 minutes to build a list of manufacturers who sell product direct to customers in AZ. And it would be pretty much impossible to build a valid case why the dealer needs to be in the chain in order to protect the customer.
Tesla doesn’t need to advertise. I think Tesla has spent zero dollars on advertising to date (aside from their web page).
Tesla gets an enormous amount of free advertising and these bozos in Arizona are giving them a big helping hand.
The Bird’s the Word. Everybody’s heard about the Bird.
Papa-ooma-mow-mow
(My freshman year in college. Beatles hit later that year and changed the Word.)
Morons in the AZ legislature would promote anything a business lobbyist tells them to support. More jobs? Duh? You mean the company may tell us to “take a hike” if we prevent them from selling their product in our state? Wowsa