Tesla is unable to sell its vehicles directly to the public in Texas
teslamotors.com
teslamotors.com
When a competitor offers a better product that you, make what they are doing illegal rather than competing with them.
Stopping innovation in America since the 70s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staggers_Rail_Act
or Uber/Lyft/etc having to go through extortionary-like procedures in California?
...
Forgive me for not knowing all the details, but what is the extortion in the fact that Taxi co's have to pay fees that Uber and Lyft don't? I'm guessing there is more to this than I know.
not that i'm a huge fan of unfettered capitalism, but just clarifying...
If you feel that use of the streets is not being rationed efficiently, or that heavy users of the streets are not paying enough relative to light users, then you can impose some kind of sliding scale or conditional tax on street use. This is not at all the same as an absolute cap on supply.
A free market is a very specific definition, there are things like atomicity of actors and whatnot. Loads of regulations can help meet that, for example:
-Governments handing out tax credits to new companies helps free markets
-Governments setting in anti-trust laws helps free markets
-Governments setting disclosure regulations helps free markets
Some regulations harm free markets (namely things like entry controls), but others protect it. We need to learn to make the distinction
Hotels and taxis are regulated to protect consumers (think safety).
Requiring car manufacturers to sell via franchised dealers protects franchised dealers.
That's a big difference.
Taxis are regulated because you could have issues when someone gets into a random person's car. You can imagine how that would be dangerous for consumers (both physically and financially).
I personally like Uber a lot and had a good experience when I was able to use them. But, you could see how a lesser competitor could cut corners in background checking their drivers.
I'd rather have somethings explicitly regulated than trust that all companies are interested in spending money on things like background checks. AirBnB has the same flaws, but even more pronounced.
No. Some time ago the United States was a world leader in terms of the standard of living for the average citizen. Now it's dead last among developed countries, and by many measures, it's solidly among developing countries.
I, personally, think that fall from grace began around the 70's (ish) when the "We're the greatest" mentality put a stop to innovation.
Basically, the United States has remained where it was all those years ago, while other Developed countries have shot ahead.
You mean the mentality that motivated deregulation?
See for yourself: http://www.oecd.org/statistics/
Tesla does not have these problems in other states such as California.
BTW this is old, the referenced bills did not pass.
1 - A charismatic "Rocket scientist" as a founder (Arguably the most inspiring founder since Steve Jobs). Check!
2 - A disruptive idea in a industry that hasn't been disrupted since the rise of Japanese cars (A long long time ago). Check!
3 - Wining against all odds (a year ago very few people were betting on Tesla). Check!
4 - A world changing idea. Check!
5 - A David and Goliath story. Check!
6 - A sexy machine and a delightful product. Check!
A silly band-aid to ridiculous legislation.
http://www.texastribune.org/2013/04/23/teslas-efforts-texas-...
Title is misleading. Texas didn't ban the sale of Teslas but rather Teslas are incapable of being sold due to legislation that was added back in 2003. Still a problem, but it should at least be presented correctly.
[1]: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/nightline-fix-abc-news/why-texas...
Tesla is not allowed to run its own dealerships in Texas, because the auto dealer's union has laws which prevent car manufacturers from running their own dealerships.
I've never heard of lobbying arms being referred to as "unions"
Although a union is for all intents and purpose a lobbying arm...
We bought ours through the website. It is the ONLY way to buy one regardless of where you live.
Why not just allow certain dealers, approved by Musk himself for all that matters, to become 'authorized Tesla dealers'? Why does Tesla insist on direct-to-consumer sales, even to the point of not being able to do so in large marketplaces?
However, showing up on the lot, they generally didn't have one to show you (again, the demand issue) and would push me towards an in stock Camry or similar.
Even when I made it explicitly clear I wanted a Prius there was a bunch of FUD acted out by the sales reps. "Yea, the sticker says 45mpg, but that's only in the city where you can use the battery". "Hey Jon, what'd that lady say she got on her commut? 37mpg?" I was truly shocked. I will also note that this happened more at multi-franchise dealerships.
Local dealers for electrics would provide the benefit of tighter integration with supporting businesses, from those who install the requisite plugs at homes, to marketing the need of stations to employers so that their employees can charge up at work. There are many many benefits to having local, private dealers.
Oh, so is that why they are mandatory through legislation? Usually if something has "many many benefits", the behavior will spontaneously arise and not need to be government mandated
Seems like rent-seeking via political clout to me...
The fact that standard practice at nearly all car dealerships is the old good cop bad cop routine between the salesman and the floor manager should tell you you're always being hustled. Whether you can win or not is irrelevant, you lost by being forced to play to begin with.
Also, a large consideration in buying an unusual new type of car is service and support. If I was buying a dealership's #3 brand, I'd expect that in a few years they'd drop that brand, and I'd have to look elsewhere for warranty service (this has happened to me twice now with Subarus, for example). Tesla's addressed this by setting up a separate Texas-only subsidiary to handle service, but apparently they can't legally do the same for sales.
That's why so many horrible dealerships are allowed to continue operating.
If you buy a car in another state, California will charge you the difference in sales tax to bring it up to California's tax rate, netting them more tax revenue. What happens if you bring in a car that you paid a higher tax rate on? Would they refund you the difference? Would you get double taxed purchasing a vehicle from California and bringing it to Texas?
Can someone explain what's going on in the service paragraph? The customer can't talk to the repair place? They can't discuss the issues the car has, they need to relay all the information through Tesla motors? What the heck?
It sounds like the customer can talk to the repair place, it's just that the repair place can't contact the customer, or even advertise themselves as a Tesla repair place.
a: His lips are moving.
Btw, "Financier" is a fascinating read and should be just used a main textbook for "Civics" class in schools on how the system works. I like this double-whammy :
"... Grund had been about, years before, purchasing through one or two brokers large amounts of the various kinds of Texas debt certificates and bonds. The Republic of Texas, in its struggle for independence from Mexico, had issued bonds and certificates in great variety, amounting in value to ten or fifteen million dollars. Later, in connection with the scheme to make Texas a State of the Union, a bill was passed providing a contribution on the part of the United States of five million dollars, to be applied to the extinguishment of this old debt. Grund knew of this, and also of the fact that some of this debt, owing to the peculiar conditions of issue, was to be paid in full, while other portions were to be scaled down, and there was to be a false or pre-arranged failure to pass the bill at one session in order to frighten off the outsiders who might have heard and begun to buy the old certificates for profit. ..."
In fact, last I looked used Model S cars were going for more than retail. Scarcity, I guess.
But it's not like you can't get a Tesla in Texas, just that they can't sell it to you.
1. Create Company X.
2. Sell exclusive USA franchising rights to Company X.
3. Acquire Company X, rename the new subsidiary as 'Tesla Franchising'.
4. ???
5. Profit
Edit: Thanks for the unwarranted down vote without a comment... I didn't know that big oil is trolling HN now.
From the article, they're already doing this with their service departments:
Customers in need of warranty service must call the Tesla Service to speak to someone at Tesla Motors in California. Based on their over-the-phone explanation, a Tesla Service employee determines whether repair work is needed/warranted. If so, the customer is sent to have the work sub-contracted by a local subsidiary, Tesla Motors TX. The local repair centers – currently in Austin and Houston – cannot advertise that they do warranty repairs nor can they discuss any additional repair needs or concerns with the customer. Tesla Motors TX then bills Texas Motors, Inc. for the work. If customers have additional warranty concerns, Tesla Motors TX cannot discuss them with the customer – the customer would need to call Tesla Motors, Inc. back and go through the process again.
[1] And I do mean a bunch.
EDIT: I just noticed. This is an old press release. The lege' is out of session. Be sure and pester representatives if another special session is called.