Tesla to Texas: How Do You Like Us Now?

[helosailor]

doot doot doo doo doooooooo IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII know.....

god bless.

C'mon man, be serious. Is Little Suzi on the up?

[BP]

So why didn't they just build a goddamn dealership?

They are building them, slowly. Tesla is strongly against doing franchises and for good reason. That and they are building their own infrastructure to support the cars before they really get into distribution.

[jw33]

They should sell their cars on Amazon.

Can someone explain why vehicle manufactures are required to sell their products through a dealership and how that benifits the consumer?

[YALE]

They should sell their cars on Amazon.

Can someone explain why vehicle manufactures are required to sell their products through a dealership and how that benifits the consumer?

You have to sell cars through dealerships in Texas, because the dealer lobby got a law passed requiring it. As mentioned, there are significant economic benefits in the form of sales taxes, so most county governments are behind it now, too.

[jw33]

I'm interested in what kind of propaganda the dealership lobby types are using to make their pitch to our lawmakers.

[46Tbird]

I have no problem with either side of the equation.

Tesla wants to sell cars without a dealer network, fine.

Texas not allowing new car sales outside of dealer networks, also fine.

Let market forces determine the winner. Isn't that how it should work?

Personally I would be hesitant to buy anything as complex as a fucking first-gen electric car without a well-defined, well-trained service network widely available. The lack of a dealer network automatically keeps me away from Tesla, as does the fact I've seen as many on the side of the road as I have driving. Cool cars nonetheless.

[IHaveAMustang]

I have no problem with either side of the equation.

Tesla wants to sell cars without a dealer network, fine.

Texas not allowing new car sales outside of dealer networks, also fine.

Let market forces determine the winner. Isn't that how it should work?

Personally I would be hesitant to buy anything as complex as a fucking first-gen electric car without a well-defined, well-trained service network widely available. The lack of a dealer network automatically keeps me away from Tesla, as does the fact I've seen as many on the side of the road as I have driving. Cool cars nonetheless.

It's odd, I see about 4 - 5 on a daily basis (2 in Keller, 2 in Coppell, 1 in Southlake) and I have never seen them on the side of the road.

Maybe they just got later production ones?

Personally I would love one. I commute 50 miles a day, I could easily do that on the range of even the smallest KWH model.

[Moose242]

Kill all the dealer networks and the jobs they support, but gain questionably sound electric cars and less than 1% of those jobs back.

Sounds legit.

[CJ]

Kill all the dealer networks and the jobs they support, but gain questionably sound electric cars and less than 1% of those jobs back.

Sounds legit.

Cars that have a huge fucking government subsidy.

[TexasT]

They should sell their cars on Amazon.

Can someone explain why vehicle manufactures are required to sell their products through a dealership and how that benifits the consumer?

I'm for a dealer network, just throwing that out first.
The last thing I'd want to wrastle with is a lemon electric tesla. Who is going to work on them. I still haven't figured out how walmart, Lowe's, home depot at all sell so many lawn tractors and such and who fixes all that stuff. I'm sure there is a place(ok, I know there is) but without a place to take it when broken, where does your mother, sister, guy who isn't a mechanic get the thing worked on. Who does warranty work? Where you gonna buy parts if you are gonna work on it?

That said I fix my own. I haven't bought new in this decade. Too much depreciation for me as I'm not a dfwm baller like most of yall. Though I do like to have a dealer to collect the sales tax and such. And pay plenty of employees and have them pay income tax.

Shiftin the paradigm is hard work.

[Ruffdaddy]

Why so much misinformation about what explodes, where, when and how. And what the fuck is wrong with everyone acting like these cars are dying left and right?

[Trip McNeely]

I agree with what Danny said, I also don't understand the whole marketing of a "Green" Electric car when they plug into the grid which is run by 70% Fossil Fuels. Seems kind of ridiculous as well that they cost so much that a frugal person who is worried about Efficiency would worry about it. My .02

[Ruffdaddy]

I agree with what Danny said, I also don't understand the whole marketing of a "Green" Electric car when they plug into the grid which is run by 70% Fossil Fuels. Seems kind of ridiculous as well that they cost so much that a frugal person who is worried about Efficiency would worry about it. My .02

Electric motors are much more efficient, electricity is recoverable under braking, electricity doesn't have to be a burned fuel. There are a lot of reasons electricity CAN be green.

[BP]

I agree with what Danny said, I also don't understand the whole marketing of a "Green" Electric car when they plug into the grid which is run by 70% Fossil Fuels. Seems kind of ridiculous as well that they cost so much that a frugal person who is worried about Efficiency would worry about it. My .02

Figuring an average driver in an average sedan that gets 35mpg and drives 15k miles a year, paying $3.15 per gallon vs the same conditions in a Model S at ll cents a KW you are paying roughly 1/3 the amount for fuel to travel the same distance.

Granted there are lots of variables both ways. I mean you have engine maintenance on the regular car but you also have battery replacement on the Tesla. You'll pay a premium for electricity on the road and there is a matter of waiting for it to charge. But that 35mpg sedan probably doesn't go from 0-60 in 4.2 seconds and run a 12.6 1/4 mile either.

[Trip McNeely]

Electric motors are much more efficient, electricity is recoverable under braking, electricity doesn't have to be a burned fuel. There are a lot of reasons electricity CAN be green.

How often do these cars require a charging? From what I understand it is quite frequent. Also since these cars are $70k+, are they really that efficient in the long run? Seems like a fad they are trying to capture more than a real cause.