Posted on 06/17/2023 11:27:42 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
Ron DeSantis has signed a law banning automakers from selling cars direct to consumers in Florida – but it contains a carve-out that will benefit his political backer Elon Musk and his Tesla company.
House Bill 637 requires most automakers to sell to Floridians through third-party car dealers, who sometimes add exorbitant markups to vehicles’ sales tags.
Drafted by lobbyists for dealers, who have made substantial donations to DeSantis, the law could have been a big blow to Tesla owner Elon Musk, who hosted his glitchy presidential campaign launch on Twitter.
Tesla cuts out the middleman by operating its own dealerships. Forcing it to use third-party franchises would have undermined its business model.
Conveniently for Musk, however, language was added to the new law exempting automakers without existing franchise agreements from its requirements. While Tesla is the chief beneficiary of the carve-out, other upstart electric vehicle makers such as Rivian, which sells direct to customers online, could also benefit.
Not fair. If Tesla is allowed to “cut out the middleman,” then all car companies should be allowed to “cut out the middlemen.
Very true....some on this thread have said - how can this be legal? Others have said - these laws haven’t been tested in court.
Has anyone asked the manufacturers care if it’s legal? Has anyone asked if the car makers want to deal with the hassle of selling directly to the consumer?
Tesla might be the #1 EV, they don’t sell more than the Big 3 overall, plus Toyota, Lexus, Nissan, Infinity, Honda, Acura, Hyundai, Kia, etc etc etc.
So, they can sell directly to the few liberal hipsters that want the POS or the wealthy guy that can drop over $100k for a Sunday driver.
What’s really sad is how much of his manufacturing goes on in China, if not all of it, his cars get the tax breaks and he and his Chinese masters are laughing all the way to the bank. When, in reality, if he wants to build cars in China, using slave labor, and sell them in the US, there should be a $10-15k tariff on each one entering the US.
Same goes for all the Chevy’s that are being made in China and brought to the US for sale. Barra said that GM has zero intention of increasing production so they can keep the price tags high for all their vehicles. Every Chevy made in China and shipped back to the US should have a tariff equal to the MSRP. All of that, plus the fact that GMs majority shareholder is the Shanghai Motor Company/CCP
https://www.motortrend.com/features/inside-deal-sell-gm-chinas-saic-13985/ Basically, Jinping and the CCP own 51% of GM.
What does DeSantis know about business? Let me look that up. Yep. Never had a job in the private sector. He knows NOTHING. He shouldn’t be picking winners and losers. He should be trying to get government out of the way of individuals and businesses. This kind of crap doesn’t win my vote.
Shove your TDS where the sun doesn’t shine. Other states having laws like this doesn’t make it right. Florida didn’t have a law until now. Going with the crowd when it comes to government is generally not a good idea.
There is no place in Florida that will do that. Even outposts like Lake City, Merritt Island, Pensacola (nice store) -- not happening.
As opposed to the DeSantis cult?
And, quite honestly, I think I prefer an America where local businesses are nurtured.
Agree.
Absent the “no state shall” restrictions of the Constitution, the states have near plenary powers.
Oh, and the first eight amendments to the Constitution, despite Scotus nonsense, do not apply to the states.
“what business is it of the state in ‘permitting’ any manufacturer from selling its wares?”
Thet can sure set up that as a business model, but this seems more about protecting franchisees.
I used to work in a wholesale business we were not allowed to sell to the public, only to retail stores. Would make no sense for us to undercut our own customers anyway.
Crony Capitalism with a Mouse, now with a Musk?
That’s the Florida Swamp way..
Beware Musk, keep your mouth shut... Mickey didn’t and it cost him..
Maybe he should sign blank checks to big pharma and lockdown the entire country as the leader of the free world.
I had several businesses over the course of my life. The last thing I ever wanted was to be nurtured by the teat of government. That’s nothing more than welfare for some and taxes for others. Small businessmen, at least the better ones don’t want help from government. They just want government to get out of the way. Businessmen want to have the satisfaction of knowing they built something on their own. Government often gets in the way of that.
When government starts getting involved with small business they end up picking winners and losers there too. For some reason, government types want to fiddle with things when they don’t need helped and the government types have no eff’n clue what to do anyways. They go looking for problems where there are none. This bill signed by DeSantis is a perfect example. Cars have been sold in Florida for over 100 years and there hasn’t been a need for such a law. Government is fiddling and there isn’t a damn one of them that has ever worked and built something.
Why is he so much in your head. If Trump is winning by 50 what do you care? You have a weird obsession with him.
He knows how to fight the left
Good. Culturalmarxost Disney deserved to be punched in the mouth. And so do other Cultural marxist Companies.
Thanks for that article. It says that all states have dumb laws that protect car dealerships in some way (but not always complete prohibition of direct-to-consumer sales).
Looking into this some more, it appears that the situation is complicated. About half the states allow direct-to-consumer sales of electric cars. (It’s the existing dealers of gasoline-powered cars that lobby politicians for protection, of course.) Source: https://www.mackinac.org/archives/2021/The%20Case%20for%20Direct%20Sales%20—%20March%202021%20Update.pdf
The whole thing is ridiculous. Of course you should be able to buy a car directly from a manufacturer, and the manufacturer should be able to sell a car to you.
The law is a stupid one anyway. But Musk should not be the only exception to it.
Wrong again! Florida did already have a pro-dealer law: https://reason.com/2023/06/15/florida-doubles-down-on-anti-competitive-car-dealership-law/
Then he’s double of a moron.
The spin (aka, deception) is heavy-handed but not unexpected from what appears to be a pro-Trump media source. I’m referring to the title/article, not to the bill itself.
I don’t know all the ramifications of direct sales from a vehicle manufacturer replacing the typical car dealership setup. We’ve always bought through a dealer, since we’ve only bought used cars by trading in the cars we had. One of my father’s personal joys was to go car shopping with the intent of bringing a “new” used car home that same day.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.