Recent content by carogan

Do you need a reason to hate our petroleum based economy? Here's one - Lac Megantic At 01:15am EDT on July 6, 2013 in the picturesque little 6000 person town of Lac-Mégantic, located in the Eastern Townships of the Canadian province of Quebec an unattended 73-car freight train carrying crude...

But the problem is that you're not delineating between two separate and distinct issues: permission to sell the product, and the mode of selling it If the state deems that it is in the best interests of its constituents that the dealer network remain in place (for whatever logic good or bad...

Millions of people I am referring to are the stakeholders currently in the auto industry. I am not disagreeing with what many people on here are arguing in principle. And I do not believe the dealership model is the "best" way to go either. The reality is that a car dealership owner will...

You make a big assumption when you say "the people" want this. You don't necessarily know this. I know you're going to point out to surveys saying "87% support the idea of direct to consumer selling" - but you need to realize that those people being surveyed are not having the ENTIRE question...

I can answer this question quite easily for you. Its because they lie. This isn't about "deserve". They don't deserve this protection. I think they deserve to be slaughtered. But the fact is that the slaughter might be massive, the pigs aren't quite ready to just walk into the...

But it can (rightly) be argued that NADA isn't necessarily attempting to block outside competition. It is my understanding that Tesla is free to set up dealerships anywhere they want. We can all take this wonderfully self-righteous view that the "free market" should reign and Tesla ought to be...

I agree with you. That is why I don't think going to federal court is going to solve any issue. Each state that is opposing this have different issues. I would argue that the biggest ones that legislators have is the loss of jobs/tax revenue/political contributions, ideology, as well as their...

Nigel, I have run dealerships for the better part of my life (as I said in earlier posts) including a family owned dealership. Forbes does not run auto dealerships. Profit centers, from highest to lowest earning are as follows: 1. Used car sales 2. New car sales 3. Business office 4. Service...

But you're missing my point. If you think that the full extent of our opponent's opposition is simply only going to come from consumer protection laws then you're being short-sighted. They are going to draw upon each and every single resource available to them, not only NADA. You've focused on...

So are you trying to say that this law was not implemented to protect dealers from the direct to consumer sales model in principle? I am arguing that this is the REAL intent of these laws. You are suggesting that the intent of these laws is ONLY to protect these dealers from their own...

See, now here is something that I've been thinking about a lot. What is the definition of a "dealership", and is there a way that this can be defined so that the main decision makers (legislators) are appeased. Do we really understand what the concerns are of legislators in NC and Texas are...

But the argument that is being used by our competitors is that there is harm by allowing Tesla to implement this model when none of the other competing manufacturers are allowed to adapt in order to compete. It brings harm to everyone else. And the crux of the issue is that these laws were...

For sure. And don't underestimate how difficult a problem like this may be to overcome. I'll give you an example of another company that is having problems getting into a state: the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and its inability to have the sport of mixed martial arts legalized and...

But the issue is that at some point our politicians decided that it was important to protect the dealership framework - and it is the intent of these laws which Tesla supporters are failing to recognize. Every other auto manufacturer may have wanted to market direct to consumer for years - but...

[/LIST] I won't disagree with you on the reality of this. However, there will exist laws that (on the surface) are there to supposedly protect the consumer - and it will be argued by our opponents that the dealer framework must stay in place because they have abided by these requirements as...