Tesla gains legal ground in New York dealer fight

[wtmusic]

"Tesla Motors gained a legal victory in its continuing efforts to expand sales across the US now that New York Supreme Court Justice Raymond J. Elliott III decided that local dealers will not be allowed to cite the Franchised Dealer Act as a reason to sue competitors, Automotive News reports.

Tesla has been embroiled in a legal tussle in the Empire State (and others) since last October, when New York dealers sued Tesla in an effort to get the California-based company to shutter the state's company-owned stores. Tesla operates three stores and two service centers in New York.

Tesla has long argued that it should be allowed to operate its own stores because of the different nature of cars like its Model S and the fact that servicing those vehicles is simply different than working on conventional vehicles. Traditional laws dictate that car sellers be franchises that are independent from automakers."

http://green.autoblog.com/2013/04/13/tesla-gains-legal-ground-in-new-york-dealer-fight/

Entrenched fossil fuel interests continue to fight tooth-and-nail against cleaner alternative vehicles.

[JimDandy]

1. It's a beautiful environmentally friendly car

that the fossil fuel guys are afraid will encroach on their sales. They should be afraid, because I can't see why Tesla sales shouldn't continue increasing far into the future. Please start churning them out though, so ordinary people can afford them soon.

[freethought]

2. Man! That is one sweet looking ride!

First, I definitely believe that dealer and the Detroit Big Three are afraid of Tesla's market penetration. Perhaps they were hoping that the Model S would be a novelty product, isolated to the nerds in Silicon Valley, other parts of California, or to a few buyers in the Northeast.

I get the approach, manufacturer direct, no middle men. There is merit to that view.

I am curious as what the market response will be once Tesla establishes presence in the east. I do know there are a handful of New Yorkers who already own the Model S.

I am also curious was to what they dreaming up for a model that serves a more common market. As of now only a fraction, of their manufacturing space in CA is used to build the Model S. They have an SUV that they rolled out not long ago called the Model X. Once the early adopters get going the greater market will follow.