In the latest of a long line of legal attacks on Tesla Motors by America’s car dealership associations, the Georgia Automobile Dealers Association has put forward a petition intended to stop the popular EV company from selling its vehicles direct to customers, and to revoke its license.
With the recent move, Georgia now joins the likes of Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Missouri, Pennsylvania, etc, as a battleground between the (arguably) very outdated car dealership model of car sales and Tesla’s direct sales approach.
Image Credit: Tesla Motors
As far as why the dealerships are going after Tesla? Well the answer is obvious — they aren’t getting a cut. Or, perhaps to put it more accurately, they aren’t getting the chance to rip customers off with massive mark-ups.
Stockwise Daily provides more:
Representative of 500 dealerships, GADA, a name for Georgia Automobile Dealers Association, has submitted a petition wherein it has requested that not only should the brand be stopped from selling its Model S from its outlet at Marietta but that its license should also be revoked. At the core of the grievance is that fact that Tesla Motors, instead of limiting their sales to 150 cars as required by state rules, sold as many as 173 units.
While Tesla Motors’ spokesperson, Liz Jarvis-Shean, declined to comment on this latest development, representative of the Georgia Dealers’ Agency, Nick Genesi, provided confirmation on the filing of the petition. In spite of the latest development, Tesla’s stock touched a record high of $269.70 since its IPO in June, 2010, thus registering an overall increase of 79% during this year alone.
Eric Ibara, a senior analyst for Kelly Blue Book, made the following comment on the development: “It’s difficult to find fault in the dealers association point that manufacturers should adhere to the existing laws. With the success of the Model S and the prospect of future Tesla products, it’s also not hard to envision a groundswell of Georgia voters petitioning their lawmakers into allowing for the sale of these cars in their state.”
Of course while said developments have the potential to impact US sales in some ways, the fact of the matter is that Tesla probably doesn’t have much to worry about. With strong sales in most US markets and growing sales in overseas markets like China, the company seems to be in a pretty solid position.
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