Tesla Motors has undertaken a number of legal challenges in its quest to sell electric vehicles direct to the general public. There are laws in the US which block the sale of vehicles directly to the general public as all sales need to go through designated showrooms. On the surface this looks to be some form of restriction of trade but there are reasons why these rules are in place.
On one hand there needs to be a way in which consumers can go back to the seller in the event of any issues. If vehicles were sold direct from Tesla’s manufacturing plants there could be significant issues in this area.
Those against showroom only sales quite rightly point to the fact that these venues are an added layer of cost for consumers. How much cheaper would vehicles be if they were not forced to go through the showroom networks across the US?
What do you think about the ban on selling any type of vehicle direct to the public? Big businesses looking after each other or do these laws protect the consumer?
The current situation “is what it is” and for the short and maybe the long term probably isn’t going to change. TESLA needs to partner with an established Dealer network. I would pick KIA.
This all looks very one sided to me - not thinking of the potential savings for consumers - although I appreciate they need to ensure consumers also have a local rep to speak to if there are any issues.
Although popular cars, Kia is essentially owned by Hyundai. Hyundai’s ceo is a thug.
Having worked in the retail automotive industry for over 25 years I would like to see more of a “Best Buy” or “Circuit City” approach.
Electric cars have orders of magnitude fewer parts than their ICE siblings. The necessary parts inventory and technical staff should be orders of magnitude less as well.
No reason we eventually shouldn’t be able to go to the local “Electric Vehicle” store and choose from all of the top brands.