Posted on 08/22/2013 10:01:28 PM PDT by grundle
an unlikely newcomer is getting top honors: the Tesla Model S.
It’s the first electric car to win Motor Trend’s Car of the Year; an unprecedented 99 out of 100 rating from Consumer Reports; and now, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it’s also the safest car ever.
But if the Model S really is the car of the future, then why has Texas banned its sales in the state and why are lawmakers in several other states trying to do the same?
To answer that, first you need to meet Tesla CEO Elon Musk. He plans on opening 50 new Tesla stores in the next year. And taking a page from the Apple playbook, Musk is selling his product directly to consumers. No hard sell. No commission for employees. And uniform prices at every store.
“We actually train people to educate,” explained Musk. “We always wanted to be a really low-key kind of friendly environment, where we're not constantly trying to close deals.”
That’s a dig at the traditional middlemen in the car-buying experience: the car dealers. Musk wants to cut them out completely. He thinks customers don’t like them and that dealers are prejudiced against electric cars.
So Musk is declaring war on car dealers, but car dealers are also declaring war on Musk. They have already successfully booted him out of Texas and there is anti-Tesla legislation pending in North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia.
“This happens all the time,” said Bill Wolters, the president of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association. “Someone wants an exception to the franchise laws. If we made an exception for everybody that showed up in the legislature, before long the integrity of the entire franchise system is in peril.”
For all the hype, only 20,000 have been sold.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“It’s the first electric car to win Motor Trend’s Car of the Year; an unprecedented 99 out of 100 rating from Consumer Reports; and now, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it’s also the safest car ever.”
Ever?? Wow! So if I hit that street-legal golf cart head-on with my F150, the passenger inside will still be OK?
I think we should allow direct sales for hobby companies like Tesla.
A full-size late-model Dodge pickup truck hit my 29 year old Mercedes sedan from behind a few months ago. Who do you think came out better?
Tesla Model S is an excellent car. Forcing companies to sell thru 3rd party is anti-free market. I believe these laws were design to protect local monopolies
I’m not big on the styling, but the Tesla is not a golf cart by any stretch.
Tesla would make no profit if not for its sales of emission credits to the automakers who build the petrol-burning cars and trucks ordinary folks can afford. So, the car made by billionaires and purchased by millionaires is actually driving up the cost of transportation for us thousandaires through emission credits, not to mention spreading our “wealth” around to the rich through the tax code.
The full article exposing this fraud is titled: Obama’s Tesla Sports Car Still Sends America’s Children to Bed Hungry and Stupid. Good for Texas, North Carolina and other states standing up against a leftist boondoggle from the California glow-bull warning moonbats.
It sounds like Texas likes Obamacare or cars.
I think this car is absolutely gorgeous but until now I had no idea that it sold carbon credits. What a scam!
Tesla is one bad azz vehicle...Acceleration is enough to give one whiplash if not prepared. No joke.
Translation: " We bought and paid for our monopoly, and our Legislators are going to stay bought if they know what's good for them."
hahaha
Bo Pilgrim walked up and down the aisle handing out money to legislators as they voted on a bill that would affect his business.
integrity?
Sounds like something a union would do.
In what way do the owners of fully electric vehicles pay their share of road maintenance and infrastructure since they pay no fuel taxes? Is this another way that the rest of subsidize these greenies?
which car isn’t subsided by tax payers? Don’t let that cloud you in objectively reviewing a car
I was educated in a public school so forgive my ignorance but what the h3!! does the term “the integrity of the franchise system” mean?
The subsidies need to be removed, but it doesn’t excuse what Texan law makers are doing either
As I understand it, a law to protect texas car dealers. No cars could be sold in texas unless via a car dealer
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