North Carolina Banning Tesla To Prevent Unfair Competition?

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Poor Tesla. It seems like every time they get a good bit of news, something like this comes along and kicks them in the junk. Thanks to Kelly Grant for the link.

The proposal, which the Raleigh News & Observer reports was unanimously approved by the state’s Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday, would apply to all car manufacturers, but the intended target is clear. It’s aimed at Tesla, the only U.S. automaker whose business model relies on selling cars directly to consumers, rather than through a network of third-party dealerships.
Click to expand...
 
Let's ban US companies from selling it's products while we bring in more Japanese built cars. Sounds likes a great idea to help our economy.
 
bigdogchris said:
Let's ban US companies from selling it's products while we bring in more Japanese built cars. Sounds likes a great idea to help our economy.
Click to expand...

Amount of campaign contribution that Tesla can make to a politician. $2000. The amount of campaign contribution that 200 dealers can make to a politician. 200x$2000 = $400,000.

The unintended consequences of campaign finance reform. Even if you ban the contribution as a company, the dealership owners will do it as individuals and still pull off a huge amount.
 
This is why our government is broken. They believe it is a good idea to tell the consumer that they can not buy a certain type of product directly from the manufacturer. They are not saying that buying from the manufacturer in general is bad, only a certain product. And this is because they are being lobbied by a private entity.

The whole purpose of government was to have a neutral party that would protect one individual from another. Now they are strong arming on behalf of those who have money (power).

The bill is being pushed by the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association, a trade group representing the state’s franchised dealerships. Its sponsor is state Sen. Tom Apodaca, a Republican from Henderson, who has said the goal is to prevent unfair competition between manufacturers and dealers. What makes it “unfair competition” as opposed to plain-old “competition”—something Republicans are typically inclined to favor—is not entirely clear. After all, North Carolina doesn’t seem to have a problem with Apple selling its computers online or via its own Apple Stores.
Click to expand...

I say fuck 'em. Go buy it out of state. I bought my sports car out of state because there was no selection in my state (drove it back from California to Texas). There is no logical reason that a "dealership" MUST be a franchise.
 
jpm100 said:
Amount of campaign contribution that Tesla can make to a politician. $2000. The amount of campaign contribution that 200 dealers can make to a politician. 200x$2000 = $400,000.

The unintended consequences of campaign finance reform. Even if you ban the contribution as a company, the dealership owners will do it as individuals and still pull off a huge amount.
Click to expand...

$2000? Psshhh!

Incidentally—not that he would be in any way swayed by this—I couldn’t help but notice that Apodaca received $8,000 in campaign contributions from the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association last year, the maximum amount allowed by state law. I’ve reached out to the senator for further comment and will update this post if he replies.
Click to expand...
 
This is un American. Crap like this is shameful and should be called out. God forbid anyone changes a business model so let make it illegal.
 
if it's only NC then fine, I don't live there so I don't care so much, and Telsa will probably still sell cars there anyways :p

but it is silly, and all these restrictions really seem to do more harm then good, because they push prices up and make consumers want to just pick the cheaper stuff, right? Of course, that's probably all "part of the plan" because some folks would rather see failure then progress, or something. ugh, I don't know... politics are so barbaric...
 
Youn said:
if it's only NC then fine, I don't live there so I don't care so much, and Telsa will probably still sell cars there anyways :p

but it is silly, and all these restrictions really seem to do more harm then good, because they push prices up and make consumers want to just pick the cheaper stuff, right? Of course, that's probably all "part of the plan" because some folks would rather see failure then progress, or something. ugh, I don't know... politics are so barbaric...
Click to expand...

It's not just North Carolina. Virginia has a similar law already on the books. It allows companies to request an exception if they can show that no dealer is available. Last month, Tesla requested such an exception, and was denied. As with the new North Carolina law, the auto dealers were behind it.
 
Anyone who comes up with a proposal like this should be banned from politics. No wonder this country is in such bad shape,we're being represented by greedy sleazebags who are more interested in lining their pockets with lobbyist's money than actually doing the job they were elected for.
 
westrock2000 said:
$2000? Psshhh!
Incidentally—not that he would be in any way swayed by this—I couldn’t help but notice that Apodaca received $8,000 in campaign contributions from the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association last year, the maximum amount allowed by state law. I’ve reached out to the senator for further comment and will update this post if he replies.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
That's only the money that they gave as the dealer association, one entity.

They can contribute individually as individual business or individuals as personal donations.
 
This is what government intervention in trade looks like. Let competition do the work.
 
Well, if anyone's got the interest and money to sink into a Tesla, they can drive out of state.

It still sucks... and NC has been doing a lot of STUPID stuff recently, so this is just one more facepalm in a long long line of facepalms.
 
michael.pa2 said:
Anyone who comes up with a proposal like this should be banned from politics. No wonder this country is in such bad shape,we're being represented by greedy sleazebags who are more interested in lining their pockets with lobbyist's money than actually doing the job they were elected for.
Click to expand...
What do we expect?

99% of the people that *WANT* to govern are either naive do-gooders, who lack the ability to properly analyze their "helpful" legislation, or power hungry sociopaths that want to dictate what people can and can't do.

Government is force. Letting it mingle with business DOESN'T provide a 'fair' playing field, it destroys the free-market, it destroys competition, it protects big businesses that can make substantial campaign donations.......it perpetuates failure.
 
Personally I hate electric cars. However, I hate this kind of bullshit even more. You're banning it because the people that pay you call it unfair and told you to do something about it. There's nothing unfair about it. It's just people unwilling to adapt protecting their dying model. Call it what it is and stop lying to people.
 
stevedave said:
Evolve or die.....Or hire lobbyist
Click to expand...

After reading the article, it's unclear why they did this ban. I don't live too far from Tesla and it was discussed on NPR yesterday. I thought this 'unfair competition' was about over 10% of Tesla's revenue coming from carbon credits it sells that are granted to it by CA for producing electric cars. At over $50 mil just this last year, I expected that North Carolina was going to complain about state subsidies, not dealerships.

Unless it has something to to with tax revenue, I don't understand why they'd do this to begin with. The auto industry + government has a lot of special rules, special taxes, special ways of doing business that seem to work really well. Just ask Detroit.
 
Here is what Tesla should do. Build a show room on the boarder of a neighboring state, one that's more then willing to accept the text revenue generated by car sales, and luxury car sales generate a LOT of tax. Then Tesla builds charging stations to bridge the gap between the boarder show room, and major city's on North Carolina. That way customers can still buy there Tesla's, and North Carolina is screwed out of any tax revenue. Im sure that will hurt a lot more then whatever these politicians pocketed in "election contributions".
 
I work at a dealership. I agree that if they want to sell their cars in our state than they should have the right to do so. Even if they are going to be my competitors. Whether I want them here or not, that is irrelevant because they should have the right to enter the market just as I have the right to sell vehicles.

On a side note, I am not that worried about them impacting my location too much. We are located in a rural area. The price is prohibitive as well as the distance. 206-265 miles may not be enough for most people that commute in our area. Even if it is. They would still need a second vehicle to if they wanted to take a trip outside of their normal driving habits.
They are very nice looking vehicles and the engineers are doing some very impressive stuff. I do think one day they will be a major player in the automobile industry. That time has not quite come yet.
 
Another part of this issue is how some politicians get their jobs. There are people that are hired to write legislation about an industry that they have a lot of experience in. While that might make sense, these legislators often are either still a part of the industry, or are expecting to enter that industry again after writing said legislation, so they have every reason to write laws that benefit the leaders in that industry over their competition.

There should be some sort of law to prevent such pandering.
 
Hay yall! I'm runnin to be the pres in 2016.
Will you please vote for me because I'll make it so you'll need a middle man for everything thing in life.
 
Simple, drive into s.ca, hit up a free wifi hotspot, buy a Tesla, drive home.
 
anon...

Why innovate when you can litigate, and why litigate when you can legislate?
Click to expand...

Truth is, these corporations use lawsuits and lawyers as weapons of economic competition. I'm waiting for when they start hiring assassins to off their competitors' executives and key technical personnel.
Click to expand...
 
Gibbage said:
Here is what Tesla should do. Build a show room on the boarder of a neighboring state, one that's more then willing to accept the text revenue generated by car sales, and luxury car sales generate a LOT of tax. Then Tesla builds charging stations to bridge the gap between the boarder show room, and major city's on North Carolina. That way customers can still buy there Tesla's, and North Carolina is screwed out of any tax revenue. Im sure that will hurt a lot more then whatever these politicians pocketed in "election contributions".
Click to expand...

Not sure about NC, but other states have laws where if you buy a car out of state and register it inside the state within 6 months of the purchase, you have to pay the tax on the value of the vehicle. So, they'll get their hand in your pocket one way or another.... :(
 
ViperGrendal said:
Not sure about NC, but other states have laws where if you buy a car out of state and register it inside the state within 6 months of the purchase, you have to pay the tax on the value of the vehicle. So, they'll get their hand in your pocket one way or another.... :(
Click to expand...

Here in Washington State, lots of people drive to Oregon to buy a car since there is no sales tax there, and drive it home. I think there may be some sort of import fee, but its a LOT less then the sales tax if people do it so much. Its a tax loophole, but since there are a lot of repubs in the senate, nobody can close it. Also Canadians drive down into Washington for cheap gas and then drive back up. Cross boarder economics at its best!
 
This is just another sign of what has been happening in our economy. Competition was to be the driving force of market innovation and creation, but now all there is legal Monopolies/Oligopolies backed by our government officials and helps keep the big boys in power while crushing any new completion. Why? Profits...Lots and lots of profits.

"Why innovate when you can litigate, and why litigate when you can legislate?" this quote pretty much sums up how our "Competitive Economy" really works now days.

I really hope Tesla can survive long enough to get big enough to be able to shrug off these kinds of bullshit, but I guarantee you will start seeing more and more of these kind of road blocks coming up everywhere for them. Also if they start ruffling Big Oil's feathers enough, they will start there own shit show against Tesla and that won't be pretty.
 
Gibbage said:
Here in Washington State, lots of people drive to Oregon to buy a car since there is no sales tax there, and drive it home. I think there may be some sort of import fee, but its a LOT less then the sales tax if people do it so much. Its a tax loophole, but since there are a lot of repubs in the senate, nobody can close it. Also Canadians drive down into Washington for cheap gas and then drive back up. Cross boarder economics at its best!
Click to expand...

Actually you should refer to it as cross border law breaking. Most, if not all, states have a Use Tax. A Use Tax is for goods you purchase elsewhere (i.e. Oregon) but is used primarily in your state (Washington). Each state has it's own law regarding this but it generally requires you to pay an amount equal to your sales tax to your state if you did not pay any sales tax when you purchased the item. If you paid that state's sales tax, you would still owe a Use Tax of (your sales tax rate) minus (other state's rate). So if your tax is 10%, but you paid 5% where you bought it, you would owe your state 5%. Conversely if you paid 10%, but your rate is 5%, you owe nothing.

The same Use Tax applies for anything you purchase, including stuff off the internet. No one ever pays it though because it's difficult to track and so difficult to enforce.

Don't know about Canada but there's only like 5 people who live there anyway so it doesn't really matter.

Read more about your law here if you like:
http://dor.wa.gov/content/FindTaxesAndRates/UseTax/

In regards to NC and Tesla, I wouldn't be surprised to see more automakers try and take the online sales route. Time was a while back when you needed a showroom for a TV, now you can order one online (and not pay your use tax, you bastard ;) ). Business are going to have to evolve and that's just a fact. One reason I'm sure the established auto makers don't like it is because without a salesperson trying to negotiate with you, why would you spend $50k on a truck when you only needed one that was $30k?
 
ViperGrendal said:
Not sure about NC, but other states have laws where if you buy a car out of state and register it inside the state within 6 months of the purchase, you have to pay the tax on the value of the vehicle. So, they'll get their hand in your pocket one way or another.... :(
Click to expand...

Yeah California is one of those states and they really bend you over and stick to you if you buy a car out of state. They make you pay CA sales tax on the sticker price of the car if it was purchased less than two years before bringing it into CA no matter what you paid for it in the other state.
 
Tesla might not seem like a big deal.

But they are. Moves like this prove that.

Their first model was a high end model 100K +with little to no impact
Their second model was a middle range 50k + with slightly more impact
Their Third model is planed to be in the 30k range....Shits going to get real once this comes out.
 
And... here we have the modern day 100mpg carburetor.
 
Yet another shining example of established industry crushing innovation wherever and whenever they can.
 
McFry said:
How's that small gubment workin out for ya?
Click to expand...
I do not think that phase means what you think it means.

The situation is explicity from invasive (aka "big") government. Now its Local invasive government but its government meddling none the less.
 
And they call this capitalism. lol.. Smaller businesses blocked by larger ones that can pay more money and get laws passed they make.

This is why the current state of capitalism is a failure. The big guys effectively now create the laws to block everybody else from getting anywhere, and pay the governments, both local and federal, to pass them. ALEC is right up there in there middle of it all.
 
show room on each border side of the state.
sounds like a plan to me.

sad though to see how innovation and ingenuity are slashed to benefit just a few people.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top