At least in Massachusetts, according to an article in the business section of my newspaper, written by Jerry Hirsch of the LA Times. The article says that Tesla got approval from the town of Natick to open up a company-owned dealership to sell their electric vehicles. They were then sued by the Massachusetts State Automobile Association that wanted to prevent Tesla from opening its own stores, without them getting a piece of the action. The lawsuit was dismissed by a Superior Court Judge, saying that state law did not intend "to protect a motor vehicle dealer from an unaffiliated manufacturer operating a motor vehicle dealership" Elon Musk said: "We are confident that other states will also come to this same conclusion and look forward to following through on our commitment to introduce consumers to electric vehicle technology in an open, friendly, no-pressure environment" . A lawsuit against the public officials of Natick for approving the dealership is still pending.
I found this particularly interesting. The article goes on to say: When Tesla started selling its flagship Model S luxury hatchback last year, it decided to bypass the traditional dealership network to open its own stores. By selling directly to consumers, Tesla gets to keep the profit that dealers make on new-car sales. It's also the only way an electric car will get a fair shake, Musk said at the time. "Existing franchise dealers have a fundamental conflict of interest between selling gasoline cars," Musk said. "It is impossible for them to explain the advantages of going electric without simultaneously undermining their traditional business."
Reading that statement makes me wonder how electric motorcycles will be marketed at established major brand IC motorcycle dealerships once the initial novelty and surge of early adopter sales have subsided. And when the major IC motorcycle brands, such as BMW, enter the field, things might even get tougher for EV start-ups, like Brammo and Zero, who can't establish their own dealerships, like Tesla can.
The other thing that fascinates me is how some H-D dealers are taking on electric motorcycles. Those guys sure didn't do a very good job of selling the Buell. Most of the time they kept the bikes hidden from their customers on the showroom floor. My friend who bought a Buell City-X (I think it was called - the one with the 900cc motor and a see-through blue "tank") from the Redwood City H-D dealer (now defunct) had a heck of a time getting his bike serviced. They said that their Buell mechanic was only at the shop on Fridays and that was the only day he could bring his bike in for service. Hopefully, the dealers have learned their lesson and won't let their "lifestyle" customers' attitudes toward anything different, get in the way of selling the bikes.
