It's a biased and skewed argument. Like it or not, there are laws in place regulatign the manner in which automobiles are sold. Tesla is not "banned" from New Jersey; they are simply being told that they need to comply with current law regarding the sales of vehicles.

If you want to debate such laws, that is another topic. But this post, and the article, are intentionally misleading. (What?!?!? Wired, publishing misleading articles?!?!? Say it isn't so....)

It's humorous when regulation-happy libtards and left-leaning publications get bent out of shape about Republicans enforcing the regulations.

New Jersey, if I am correct, is a strongly Democrat/Liberal state...Christie does not have the power to universally change the law - and I'll just bet that the Democrat legislature hasn't tried to change it either - and since laws start in the legislature, this is a Democrate problem, not a Christie problem.

Nice try...NOT.

FAIL.

Hey guys what about the George Washington Brid....shit, bo_sox beat me to it.

One wonders how the New Jersey law affects special ordering a car over the internet from GM. If they don't ban that, then opening a showroom and lot with 5 cars through a middleman who agrees to work as an employee of Tesla without commission has Tesla covered and gives Jersey the rigid digit.

In short, a shell company that acts as the middleman and takes no commission covers Tesla.

Same thing happened in Mass. Tesla was easily able to find a (hyper)loophole, so it really didn't matter. Hopefully the law will be changed to allow for more innovation.

All they have to do is point out that the big automakers take internet orders from New Jersey and the law will be changed instantly.

Going to go out on a limb here and say Elon Musk's army of lawyers have a better hold of the situation than you, Draug. : )

Oh, absolutely they do. But if I, a lay person, can see that "every car sold in New Jersey must be sold through a middleman" would preclude GM or Ford from selling over the internet directly to the consumer, then those sales are violating the law. The only way they don't is if you are forced to pick up the car from a dealership and pay the dealership a fee.

Damn. Just checked and GM's website makes you pick a dealer even just to get a quote.

Sorry 2WL, I gave you a +1 as restitution.

@krellin ... as far as Republicans go, Christie barely even is one. I agree with you in part, though - this move is going to have little effect on Tesla. It's all about $$$ for the state, and probably for the automobile industry's lobbyists too. It's not really that hard to go out-of-state to buy a car in a place like NJ.

Hell, they can still buy the car on the internet, Tesla just isn't allowed to have a Tesla corporate store. New Jersey can't outlaw the internet sale as they would violate the Interstate Commerce Clause. The Feds would come down on Christie so hard... So Tesla can't advertise with store fronts and can't schedule test drive in the state. They can advertise in magazines and on TV and they can schedule test drives from the internet at a store front in a nearby state. Screw NJ. It's losing tax dollars because of it and Christie will find himself (and the lawmakers who support him) out of a job if he doesn't get the law changed.

Christie isn't going to last, I'm pretty sure everyone but the politically ignorant moderate-right know that. Rubio will beat him out in terms of innovation any day and Rand Paul/Ted Cruz/others will play the more bombastic politician and basically sit Christie's ass in some bullshit advisory to the secretary to someone who advises someone who is part of the President's Cabinet Advisory job in the federal government.

Christie is the US equivalent of Toronto's Ford. Unfortunately, we have many US equivalent's of Ford.

Bo - I agree Chrisite is barely a Republican (not taht being a Republipuke is anythig to brag about). Christie is a piece of shit in so many ways.....BUT....to blame Christie for the legal structure of a state with a Democrat legisltive body is ridiculous.

@krellin ... Christie approved the measure, did he not? For a guy that claims to promote the free market (though, as I said, anyone that knows a bit about him knows he is too inconsistent to be sure and definitely isn't a traditional conservative), how does eliminating independent sales within a state actually do that?

Anyway, as you are well aware in your constant criticism of Obama and likeminded Democratic governors/leaders around the country, the guy doesn't have to propose and singlehandedly pass the legislation to take the blame for it.

@Draug ... Most political leaders look pretty bad when the media creates your view of them. I'm not defending Rob Ford, but frankly, I doubt he's everything they make him out to be.

Well, he doesn't help his own cause when he tweets everyone should set their clocks back in March... I expect that out of ignorant celebrities, but that is almost as bad as Palin thinking all of Africa was a country. But then our own President can't spell respect.

And the vice president shot someone in the face because he thought they were a quail, and then the other vice president who actually was a quail couldn't spell potato. In other words, many politicians are quite stupid, regardless of party affiliation.

I had already made that point by including Palin. And his name wasn't Quail, it was Quayle. Talk about not being able to spell. :-P As far as Cheney, the dude went in to retrieve his bird when other hunters were still shooting. Hardly the hunter's fault. I'm no hunter but even *I* know not to go where the birds are coming up out of the grass. Yeesh!

More on that here...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/12/cheney/

It's the pronunciation that counts.

Sorry Draug, Cheney accidentally shot a guy, I reserve the right to make fun of him.

No problem. He deserves some fun made at his expense if just for being a Dick. <grin>

Forcing companies to sell cars through dealerships is such bullshit. I forget where I saw it, but it adds about 3k to the price of the car. Get rid of the middleman and save customers some money, is what I say.

Breaking news - the US government doesn't give a damn if you save money as long as they have more of it.

***Their election campaigns have more of it****

ftfy

Actually bo_sox. It's more like they don't give a damn so long as they giant corporate donors and Waal Street gets more of it

I have no respect for Cheney. He shot a lawyer and couldn't kill him.

If you got rid of the auto dealership middlemen, then they would have to go and sell something else. Back during the 1980s they sold personal computers.

Well put, both of you. Sorry for giving the government too much credit.

Despite all the gripes you have about dealerships, they also provide a service to people purchasing cars - such a manufacturer trained technicians than can provide you with authorized warranty work on your new vehicle. I'm not saying this justifies additional expenses and such - but you want to buy your car cheap and dirty off the internet, and then you will be bitching when you can't get your car serviced properly.

As always, the Libtards take their narrow-minded, anti-capitalist views -- informed by sheer ignorance -- and go off on rants regarding things they know nothing about.

Eliminate dealerships and open up manufacturer licensed garages. Same goal met, Dealership eliminated.

What you don't seem to take into account is this isn't actually a law in NJ. It was never voted on. It was put in place as a policy just a few months ago specifically to stop Tesla and, as such, the feds should tell Chrisfuck that he has violated the interstate commerce clause and fine the state of Naj something like a quarter of a billion dollars for stifling competition.

no, costs shifted elsewhere. come on draug....get real.

manufacturers spend a lot of money not jst designing a car, but alopso making sure that facilities and training are in place to service that car to their stanards. that costs mony.

i've worked early in my career for a company that developed dealership workshop manuals nd training.

and all the money they py to make sure service procedures are developed properly gets STOLEN and republished (Chiltons manuals,etc) so 'independent' shops can fix your cars for cheap while dealers bear the brunt of the coss forvthe development of that training material.

again, this whole discussion is one-sided bullshit born out of sheer ignorance.

krellin, how did you go from defending the Republican ideal for an economy (a market that's regulated but in which government doesn't pick the winners) to defending New Jersey's blatant crony capitalism in just over one page of a thread?

That's what I am saying, Krellin. Keep the investment in the skilled workers and convert dealerships to *just* the service departments. I bought the Mercedes from someone other than the local Mercedes dealer, but still have it serviced at Mercedes Benz of West Chester. The dealership had too high a markup for my taste, but their service department is top notch. I did the same with the Corvette. Bought it from a private seller but went to Danny Popp at McCluskey Chevy for service work as he was a certified ZR1 mechanic. Loosing the dealership doesn't mean losing the service departments.

And if a business can't handle a changing market, they deserve to go under. That's the way a free market works.

Precisely. The alternative wouldn't be buying cars from the internet, krellin, but directly from the manufacturer itself.

Just ask the RIAA and MPAA. They fought and fought and fought over streaming media. Now they have embraced it and all is good in the their worlds. They are making money off subscribers and downloads and very happy.