4 ms·
I'm kind of curious whether Elon personally has anything to do with that exception. It is pretty advantageous for him.
by juujian 3y ago
I'm kind of curious whether Elon personally has anything to do with that exception. It is pretty advantageous for him.
- gbear605 3y agoElon is helping with DeSantis’ presidential campaign, so it seems almost certain.
- kgwxd 3y agoI stop wondering a long time ago. It's more blatant than ever.
- vkou 3y agoThe two are political bedmates, there's no doubt about it.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoFlorida situation aside (could be shady shit going on, would have to suss it out with some investigative work), other states that have allowed new automakers to sell direct have been provided the exemption because they don't have an existing dealer network they're competing with. For legacy auto, the dealer network was a benefit (offloading local customer relationships, inventory, service) that is now an albatross they'll have to buy out. Just another combustion->EV transition disadvantage to incumbents (legacy auto dealers rely primarily on service revenue, and EVs require much less service overall). For example, GM had to buy out 150 Cadillac dealerships that did not want to pay for the costs involved to transition to EV products (~$200k/dealer). Ford is having problems with dealers drastically marking up their EV products with "market adjustment fees", discouraging uptake, and are attempting to twist dealership arms so they fall in line to compete against Tesla's no haggle pricing. TLDR Interest alignment challenge. https://www.autonews.com/dealers/car-dealer-automaker-tensions-rise-over-state-bills https://www.autonews.com/dealers/car-dealer-automaker-tensio... https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/04/about-150-cadillac-dealers-take-gm-buyouts-rather-than-invest-in-evs.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/04/about-150-cadillac-dealers-t... https://electrek.co/2022/09/14/ford-sets-new-dealers-requirements-in-order-to-sell-evs/ https://electrek.co/2022/09/14/ford-sets-new-dealers-require... https://twitter.com/mrlevine/status/1373646122548301833 https://twitter.com/mrlevine/status/1373646122548301833 https://www.teslarati.com/ford-dealership-applies-69554-markup-on-f-150-lightning-despite-corporate-orders/ https://www.teslarati.com/ford-dealership-applies-69554-mark...
- stefan_ 3y agoAnd why would we legally protect dealerships? Are we doing the same for McDonalds franchisees? Who is protecting the corner Wendys from being undercut by a mothership restaurant?
- toomuchtodo 3y agoHistorically, dealer franchise protection laws were enacted to protect local small business (dealerships) from the muscle of Big Auto. https://futurist.law.umich.edu/preemptive-federal-legislation-for-ev-manufacturers-to-sell-direct-to-customers/ https://futurist.law.umich.edu/preemptive-federal-legislatio...
- 7e 3y agoThese laws protect the consumer from a monopoly on sales and service from the manufacturer.
- ghaff 3y agoThe past 2 or 3 years have been something of an anomaly, but before the supply chain shortages, you could often basically buy a car at a few hundred dollars above dealer cost. (There are often other dealer incentives that aren't necessarily reflected in the online cost numbers--but close enough.) Which is why dealerships tend to put the big sell on using them for your vehicle's service because that (and financing) is where the money is. If you give them a check, drive your car away, and never see them again, they don't make a lot in general.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoThose days are over. Automakers realized they could juice profits by keeping supply constrained, and are doing so. https://www.axios.com/2022/07/14/automakers-production-levels-decrease-profits https://www.axios.com/2022/07/14/automakers-production-level... https://www.businessinsider.com/automakers-low-inventory-maximize-profits-supply-chain-constraints-car-buyers-2023-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/automakers-low-inventory-max... https://www.businessinsider.com/used-vehicle-prices-inventory-dealerships-pandemic-car-buyers-leasing-payments-2023-1 https://www.businessinsider.com/used-vehicle-prices-inventor... Edit: used vehicle prices are held high by reduced new vehicle deal flow. The whole auto market is supply constrained, pushing aggregate prices up.
- anderber 3y agoDeSantis announced his presidential bid on Twitter, so I'd say there's a very strong connection.
- akira2501 3y agoWould you really feel differently about any part of the situation if you found out he had nothing to do with it? He's still accepting the benefit of it and apparently not campaigning _against_ it. "Will no one rid me of these meddlesome dealerships?!"
- phpisthebest 3y agoElon probably influenced the carve out, but the Ban is all Dealer Lobbying Auto Dealers at the state level it one of the most, if not most powerful groups in state politics, as a huge part of most state revenues are derived from taxes on Auto Sales. it is by far the most expensive item most people purchase that is subject to sale taxation I am kinda surprised they allowed for a carve at all.
- yumraj 3y agoHe owns Twitter. DeSantis announced his presidential bid on Twitter. You can draw your own conclusions.
- EricDeb 3y agoI'll answer that for you: yes
- karmakaze 3y agoTesla of course wanted direct distribution. Existing automakers lobbied against it. I guess each got what they requested, but only for themselves. It's sort of like a Judgement of Solomon response.
- rkagerer 3y agoI remember when Tesla was an upstart underdog for whom I rooted.
- foogazi 3y ago1. Courted the left with green EV tech & solar 2. Courted the right with access to social media 3. Profit!