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Came across this article from azcentral...

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Op-eds by the auto dealer cartel are common wherever this issue comes up. Don't forget they're the newspapers' largest advertisers so the papers go out of their way to please them.

Whenever I hear this argument about "special treatment" I turn it around and say you're right, there shouldn't be special treatment. So lets stop treating cars differently than any other consumer product and let the manufacturers sell them any way they please.
 
Good grief. These people don't have any sense of basic logic. There are 17 comments to the story, and it is 17-0 against the dumb dealer arguments.

Think about it. If the manufacturer owns all sales points for a Ford, for example, it can set the price without competition. The independent dealer structure provides for many different dealers all selling Fords against each other.
:rolleyes: Apparently Ford only competes against itself and not against GM/Crysler/Toyota/et. al.

Arizona auto dealers employ more than 28,000 people statewide and generate approximately 28 percent of all retail sales tax revenue in the state. At a time of recovering state revenues, why would we want to jeopardize this? And when the state may have to come up with $300 million more per year to fund schools after a court decision, why would we want to hurt a key economic engine?
:rolleyes::rolleyes: Here we go again with the dog whistles. "OMG YOU MIGHT HURT SCHOOLS DUE TO LOST TAX REVENUE AND YOU KILL JOBS!!!!", as if Tesla and its customers wouldn't be paying any income/sales taxes in the state and wouldn't be hiring any employees at all.

Arizona's long-standing policy of separate ownership between manufacturer and dealer is a sound one that protects consumers. Local ownership is far less likely to cease operations and leave consumers with little or no avenue to address issues that arise.
Uh huh. Sincerely, Fisker dealers.

Fisker was once the great electric sports car of the future. It went bankrupt. Why don't we see how Tesla turns out before considering such legislation? After all, recent financial reports show it to be bleeding red ink.
EPIC. You just gave a great example of the exact opposite outcome to your previous point.
 
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Dealership money runs very, very deep in Arizona. Former governors have owned quite a few dealerships - before and after impeachment.

I'm surprised that Arizona has the one SvC and as many SCs as it does, and suspect one of the reasons why, otherwise inexplicably, Tucson does not have even 1 SC within 50 miles is because of the dealership cartel.

The Arizona Republic/azcentral is the Fox (Faux) News of newspapers in the state, and, given certain proclivities therein, that's saying something
 
The Arizona Republic/azcentral is the Fox (Faux) News of newspapers in the state, and, given certain proclivities therein, that's saying something
Of course the newspapers will be on the side of the dealers. It might be a tight contest, but I confident that car dealers are responsible for a large percentage of the advertising revenue for newspapers. Another car company that we know does not spend ANY money on newspaper ads.
 
What I don't get is if Ford in their example of Tesla raised prices so high that noone bought their cars they'd go out of business. Chevy and the others would take in the sales. What exactly is the problem then?
 
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What I don't get is if Ford in their example of Tesla raised prices so high that. O one bought their cars they'd go out of business. Chevy and the others would take in the sales. What exactly is the problem then?

Dealers' associations are conveniently forgetting to tell their audiences that different brands of cars are substitute goods.