Anti-Tesla bill reaches Michigan governor's desk http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2013-2014/billenrolled/House/pdf/2014-HNB-5606.pdf Bill Sponsors: Aric Nesbitt, District 66 - Michigan House Republicans Frank Foster, District 107 - Michigan House Republicans
The auto dealers are at it again! They secretly stuck in legislation at the last minute and it is now on the governors desk!!! Anti-Tesla Bill Lands On Michigan Governor's Desk
Done -- hopefully, with some attention this will get the same treatment as the Missouri bill-sneak that was attempted earlier this year.
Dealers are so scared of their 100-years-old "cozy" relationship with lawmakers they'll do anything to prevent a change to their status quo. It's so pathetic that they have to resort to such tricks. They're doomed.
Crazy! Tesla is planning on opening a location in Detroit. We need to contact Rick Snyder's office and also both the House and Senate representatives in the Michigan state government and voice our support for Tesla! May be we can organize a group of several Tesla owners to go to the governor's office and state capital?
I figure vote counts that one sided are for bills with little or no controversy associated with them. With Tesla owners and regional / national press on how Michigan doesn't want Tesla doing business in the state, at least the "little or no controversy" end of things wouldn't be true. I suspect that with a veto, it doesn't even come up for an override vote. Light - it's the best disinfectant.
The "anti Tesla" language was added hours before the bill was voted on. There was no public comment on this bill. This will be a national story tomorrow. I would not rule out any possibility...
They're really pulling out all the stops on the dirty tricks. This will obviously be their modus operandi going forward. If you can't win on a level playing field, tilt the field.
So goodish news they should just be able to do what they are doing in VA right now. Open a gallery where they aren't "selling" new cars and then service the cars out of state. Even in the worst case they should be able to not open a store at all and still service the cars out of state. Not ideal but it could work in areas that are at least close to the boarder of a more "friendly" state.
I guess it was inevitable the home of the other US automakers would ally with the dealers. For some reason I don't think preventing new businesses from opening up in Detroit is a smart move.
I talked to the person at the Columbus store a while back about the possibility of opening a store in Toledo (just south of the MI border). I was told Tesla has no plans to do that because they already have all the stores permitted by Ohio law. That makes Columbus the closest store to the Detroit metro area at about a 4-hour drive. When the Cleveland store opens, it will "just" be a 3-hour drive. Indianapolis and Chicago are even worse. Unfortunately, those kinds of drives for sales and service would be a deal-breaker for me if something doesn't change by the time Model 3 comes out. :crying: Hopefully, Tesla and/or Musk will step up to the plate to convince the Michigan legislature to carve out an exemption for them.
The people running your state are trying to prevent you from being able to purchase the make and model of car that you want to purchase. Doesn't some of the responsibility lie with you? Why is it all up to Tesla and Elon Musk? Have they not already stepped up to the plate a number of times on behalf of us all?
If this doesn't get resolved before Model 3 time, Tesla will escalate it to the Supreme Court, and the dealers will lose. What a bunch of skeezbags.
I have no problem writing my legislators (and be assured that this will factor in to my voting decisions for November) -- my appeals to Musk and Tesla are more based on the fact that they can make much, much larger campaign contributions than I can. I guess I'm just feeling rather cynical right now....
It's possible the legislators thought this was a non-controversial bill and didn't even know about the anti-Tesla language that was snuck into it. In that case it could be a whole new ball game after a veto.
The original bill did not contain the "Anti Tesla" language. The sponsors added the language literally an hour and a half before it went to vote. There was no public comment nor did anyone (including legislators) know this bill (with amended language) existed to object to it. This is underhanded politics. The OEMs do not like auto dealers anymore than anyone. They have contracts in place that will be difficult to sever.