Elon Musk blocks GM's 'Kill Tesla' bill

[bananas]

Source: Australian Finance Review

Tesla Motors prevailed on Thursday in Indiana, where lawmakers sidelined a "Kill Tesla" bill that would have kicked the company out of the state unless it establishes dealerships.

Tesla, led by chief executive officer Elon Musk, is licensed to sell its electric cars directly to consumers in Indiana and has operated one store in Indianapolis for two years. State Representative Kevin Mahan introduced a bill, which General Motors lobbying helped create, that would have required Tesla to establish franchised dealers. After a hearing on Thursday, a state Senate committee voted to send the bill to a "summer study" session - in essence, tabling it.

"We look forward to participating in the upcoming summer study process where we will be able to fully air the issues of vehicle sales and consumer choice in an open and public forum," Tesla said on Thursday in a statement.

The legislative battle comes as both carmakers prepare for head-to-head competition to sell lower-priced, long-range electric cars next year. GM is readying its Chevy Bolt, while Tesla is preparing to unveil the Model 3.

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Read more: http://www.afr.com/technology/elon-musk-blocks-gms-kill-tesla-bill-20160225-gn42rz

[PoliticAverse]

1. Is it time for GM's next bailout yet? n/t

[randys1]

2. Koch Bros are creating an entity which exists to destroy tax credits for electric cars

This makes them enemies of America and the human race

[TheBlackAdder]

3. Adam Ruins Everything just exposed the bullshit of Car Dealerships and how they rip off customers!

.



Of course, the auto dealer organizations are some of the largest political donors.


They also pay taxes to the state which keeps them around, taxes that are funded by the buyers!



.

[DirkGently]

4. Good. n/t

[GoldenMean]

5. I have a dog in the fight

I bought some Tesla stock a few years back and it's been a roller coaster.
Iron Man Musk is always fighting headwinds every time he turns around.
Cheap gas, falling China economy and tepid Consumer Report (even though Tesla has the highest customer satisfaction) has been this years damper.
Meanwhile, Elon marches onward, continually improving self driving capability to meet his goal of autonomous driving by 2020.
His goal is to be able to call your car and have it drive across the nation, stopping to automatically recharge itself at his solar powered stations on it's way to your driveway.
Every mile a Tesla drives it becomes smarter, sharing with other Teslas with it's Watson like capability.
I wouldn't be surprised if some bagger states make him get oil changes

[ThoughtCriminal]

6. The car dealers can bring spokesman to the Summer Study

[Recursion]

7. Car dealerships are as big a racket as taxi medallions

There's quite a few parallels between Tesla and Uber: they are introducing a national business plan that cuts out the politically-protected rents sought by current capital owners (dealerships in Tesla's case, medallion owners in Uber's case). And they're facing significant political opposition because in many small towns the car dealership owners are among the richest and most politically connected people, while in many cities the taxi medallion owners are. Both offer better deals to the customer, but displace existing rentiers; the fact that Tesla has enemies mostly on the right and Uber has enemies mostly on the left speaks, I think, to the fact that car dealers are politically important in conservative districts while medallion owners are politically important in liberal districts, more than anything else.

[caraher]

8. Oh, you cynics...

This is all about supporting local communities, which would wither were it not for the support of auto dealerships. And baseball. Given time, apple pie will surely also make an appearance in the rhetoric supporting this bill.

Mahan said that he welcomes Tesla to Indiana, but thinks it should have two dealerships competing on price. He also wants the Palo Alto, California-based company to get more involved in the local community.

"I look forward to Tesla supporting our local little leagues," said Mahan at Thursday's hearing.

[secondvariety]

9. That made me laugh.

Thanks.