Wednesday, April 16, 2014

States bar sales of Tesla cars



Money is supposed to talk in America, though sometimes you may need a sort of Rosetta Stone.
It seems some in America, especially legislatures and car dealers, have as much trouble with present day engineless Tesla cars as Thomas Edison did with futurist Nikola Tesla.
Although last year the Tesla car company posted a profit for the first time in its ten-year history, according to Wikipedia.
The cheapest all-electric Tesla, they all are all-electric, sells for about $58,000 but a federal tax credit for purchase of a plug-in vehicle brings it slightly under $50,000. The Tesla Roadster, top speed 130 mph and 0 to 60 in four seconds for those who want muscle cars,  is a bit more, more than $100,000.
The writer digresses. The story is about how several states, including Texas, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and Arizona won’t let Elon Musk sell his cars.
Musk already cannot meet the demand for his cars from Europe and the US, primarily because he cannot produce batteries. Thus the plans for a new battery plant, which Western states are competing for.
They insist on only allowing car sales from franchise dealers. Car dealers, lobbyists and legislators insist such laws protect buyers, guaranteeing a place to take their cars for repairs. Studies have shown that the dealership method has led to higher costs for the consumer.
Car dealers say they are the only business left on mainstream.
"The rationale given … is that it ensures ‘consumer protection.’ Unless they are referring to the Mafia version of protection, this is obviously untrue," Musk told Fox news.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out such dodo tactics won’t work in today’s markets.
Texas, which wants to compete for a new Tesla battery factory likely create 6,500 jobs, bars the sale of the car. However, there is a showroom, called a gallery, and buyers can order a Tesla online.
Some Texas have driven at least 12 hours to Denver to buy a Tesla.
Tesla lovers in other states have done similarly. That could mean their home states lose sales tax money.
New Jersey banned the sales. Many Jersey buyers already drive across the state into Pennsylvania to buy cars and bring them back.
In some cases it might be easier than driving across the George Washington Bridge.
Musk told Business Insider last November: “"US demand or North American demand has continued to increase. We've actually had to starve North American demand in order to feed Europe. We've had European customers that have been waiting for a long time so we've had to constrain deliveries to North America in order to get people their cars, in some cases for two to three years.
"I think we could sustain 20,000 cars a year in North America and maybe more than that. But it doesn't make sense for us to try to amplify demand if we aren't able to deliver to that demand. That'll just make people unhappy.
The Seattle Times says the Tesla’s cheapest model sells more t
han any of its competitors, and last year it was about 20,000 for the model S.



Sources:





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1 comment:

  1. The Tesla looks as if it has finally built an electric vehicle that has some pep. In spite of the efforts of 20th century car makers, the new, efficient vehicles are the future.

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