{"id":401,"date":"2013-01-10T09:34:03","date_gmt":"2013-01-10T17:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.autoconsignmentofsandiego.com\/wordpress\/?p=401"},"modified":"2014-01-10T19:09:44","modified_gmt":"2014-01-11T03:09:44","slug":"tesla-1-dealers-0-judge-tosses-lawsuit-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.autoconsignmentofsandiego.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/10\/tesla-1-dealers-0-judge-tosses-lawsuit-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Tesla 1, Dealers 0: Judge Tosses Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tesla_storefront\"<\/a>Last fall, Tesla was making headlines \u2014 not because of its snazzy Model S sedan, but because of its unusual (and potentially illegal) showrooms. Now, one judge in Massachusetts has vindicated the electric-car startup and its unorthodox sales techniques. Is this the shape of things to come?<\/p>\n

Tesla is a small but audacious company. Then again, we wouldn\u2019t expect anything less from its founder, Elon Musk, who also changed the face of banking (PayPal) and space travel (SpaceX).<\/p>\n

Tesla hasn\u2019t just created high-end electric cars that can \u2014 for a price \u2014 achieve ranges comparable to conventional vehicles. It has also reimagined the auto showroom experience, thanks to George Blankenship, the man who helped create Apple\u2019s ridiculously successful, outrageously profitable chain of retail outlets.<\/p>\n

According to the automaker\u2019s website, there are currently 23 Tesla \u201cstores and galleries\u201d across the U.S., plus another one in Canada. Generally speaking, these outlets are more like \u201cinformation centers\u201d than conventional dealerships: customers can peruse vehicles, learn more about them, and even sit in them, but they\u2019re required to go elsewhere for test drives and purchases.\"teslastore\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Other auto dealers aren\u2019t happy with Tesla\u2019s showrooms because they claim the facilities violate franchise laws. Franchise laws differ from state to state, but in most cases, they prohibit automakers from selling directly to the public, requiring a dealer to play middleman.<\/p>\n

And so, Tesla has been sued in four states: Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon. In November, Tesla won a partial victory in Massachusetts when a judge denied a request from the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association to shut down Tesla\u2019s showroom in Natick.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s news<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a continuation of the Massachusetts case, Norfolk County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Fishman has now thrown out the entire lawsuit brought against Tesla by the Association.<\/p>\n

According to the report in AutoNews, however, it appears that Fishman has left the door open to future challenges. Avoiding the question of whether Tesla might be violating franchise laws, Fishman instead tossed the case because he determined that the Association lacks standing to sue.<\/p>\n

Naturally, the Association is displeased with Judge Fishman\u2019s decision and claims that it does, in fact, have standing under 2002 revisions to the state\u2019s franchise laws. There\u2019s no word on whether the Association will appeal.<\/p>\n

The future of sales?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take a genius to realize that there are grave problems with today\u2019s auto sales paradigm. Showrooms are often high-pressure environments, full of pushy sales personnel who can be more interested in making a sale than making customers feel comfortable with the vehicle they\u2019re buying.<\/p>\n

Equally problematic is the sales transaction itself, which can be just as excruciating as the shopping, test-driving, and negotiation. Generally speaking, the rule in marketing is to put as few barriers as possible between a customer and her purchase. By that account, car sales fail more often than they succeed.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the current auto sales paradigm runs counter to 21st century trends, most of which are centered around the internet. Whether someone\u2019s buying roller skates or a refrigerator, today\u2019s customer experience is all about information-gathering, comparison-shopping, and \u2014 once a decision has been made \u2014 an easy, no-hassle purchase.<\/p>\n

Tesla hasn\u2019t changed the car-sales model entirely, but it\u2019s an interesting start. True, it may be violating state franchise laws, but it seems to us that in certain cases, those laws are in need of updating \u2014 not just for Tesla\u2019s sake, but for other automakers, too. From where we sit, Tesla (and to a smaller degree, Audi) may be leading the entire auto industry toward a new sales model that could benefit manufacturers and consumers alike.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared at The Car Connection<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last fall, Tesla was making headlines \u2014 not because of its snazzy Model S sedan, but because of its unusual (and potentially illegal) showrooms. Now, one judge in Massachusetts has vindicated the electric-car startup and its unorthodox sales techniques. Is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[83,82],"class_list":["post-401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-tesla-news","tag-tesla-dealerships","tag-tesla-lawsuit","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.autoconsignmentofsandiego.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.autoconsignmentofsandiego.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.autoconsignmentofsandiego.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.autoconsignmentofsandiego.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.autoconsignmentofsandiego.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/www.autoconsignmentofsandiego.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":415,"href":"http:\/\/www.autoconsignmentofsandiego.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions\/415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.autoconsignmentofsandiego.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.autoconsignmentofsandiego.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.autoconsignmentofsandiego.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}