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 ...
If it’s true that “direct sales to customers is illegal in Texas”, then how is it that Carmax operates in Texas? Is anyone familiar with this law, does it only apply to new cars and not used cars?
Spend five minutes watching How the Tesla Model S is Made -- Behind The Scenes. It will change your mind. This is a real automobile manufacture with the most advanced technologies.
Hahahahahaaha!
But I just went through a 5 hour ordeal to buy a new truck so I’m a bit prejudiced. I like the truck but hate the buying procees.
I've heard many people have had good luck with contacting all the dealers for the car they are interested in in their area and requesting written bids. Basically telling the dealer "name your price and you get one shot at it". It eliminates the grind. Some dealers blow them off but others give a decent price.
On my last car I negotiated in person but I told the dealer to put away her "4 square" deal sheet because we were haggling only on price (financing was a separate deal and the trade-in was essentially worthless). It only took about a half hour and a couple quick runs back to the manager. Dealing with the finance guy was annoying because he kept ignoring the fact that I already had a line of credit at a better rate. If I told him I already had money available at 3.5% why would he start at over 8% and gradually "find" better deals when I said no. He finally matched my rate after about five tries, but by then I was so annoyed that I didn't want him to get the business.
My previous one was a Saturn with a non-negotiable (but decent) price. There would be no way I would put up with even an hour working on the price, much less five hours.
Impressive!
I am including the financing and the dealer add ons and the extended warranty pitch. They basically tried to regain everything I had negotiated with the salesman/manager.
And it didn’t help me either that I had an account manager from my company calling me every 20 minutes on a problem at work even though I am an hourly guy and it was my day off.
It made the negotiating even harder.
My wife was with me and about an hour into it she was ready to just give the dealership everything they were asking for just to get out of there.
In Texas, car manufacturers are not allowed to directly own car dealerships, but must instead offer dealerships to independently owned dealerships in franchise arrangements.
A reason for this would be to avoid unfair competition, where a car company would sell franchises, but later open their own dealership and undercut the independents.
Of course, it also protects independent franchises from competition, and could be considered “anti-competitive”, especially in a case where a particular company doesn’t do ANY franchises.
In many industries and states, independent franchises co-exist peacefully with company-run stores. I believe gas stations are like that, with some owned by the company, and others independents who purchase franchise rights. Same with fast food locations.
Absolutely!
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