Tesla petition! Sign it!

[Xaero]

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/allow-tesla-motors-sell-directly-consumers-all-50-states/bFN7NHQR

This is Tesla's attempt to change the anti-competitive laws created that do not allow car manufactures to sell directly to consumers.  Not sure if this impacts Brammo but it does not allow you to order anything directly from Ford, etc, without going through a dealership.

I would share this everywhere possible.  They need 30k sigs to hit the 100k goal.

[Brammofan]

I signed last week and would encourage all US members of the forum to sign as well.

[protomech]

Done.

[00049 (AKA SopFu)]

While I don't disagree with the fact that Tesla should be allowed to sell directly to consumers, I don't think this is something the Fed needs to get involved with. I'm not sure an edict from Obama would help change any minds, either...

[protomech]

Interstate commerce clause might apply. I'd settle for repealing Citizens United.. and a FOI act to discover which dealers have been funding which politicians.

[flar]

Perhaps the laws should be fought through the courts?  It seems an unnatural way to restrict commerce.

The laws were apparently originally intended to protect established networks of independent dealerships from the predatory influence of manufacturer dealerships.  I'm guessing that there may have been some shady practices occurring in that process which needed to be stopped, but I'm not sure these laws were an appropriate way to address the problems.  And I don't think stopping manufacturer dealerships for new brands that have no existing independent dealer networks should be involved in those laws in any case.

A counter-example would be Apple products.  They sell just fine via both their own retail stores and plenty of independent stores as well.

[Xaero]

Well, they hit their goal.  Hopefully that is a good thing.

[Richard230]

Speaking of Tesla hitting their goals, I read yesterday that Tesla is surpassing their Model S production goal of 400 cars a week and are selling every car they can make.  Their stock price is way up and everyone is expecting a great second-quarter company report.