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Update on the Salt Lake City Tesla store turmoil

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Until the law is clarified James said they will most likely leave it as a service center/supercharger.

I'm not going to lie, I'm a little unhappy they put a supercharger there, as it means the proposed supercharger in Park City (closer to me) now probably won't happen. You can get from SLC to Evanston, WY (the next push across I-80 for SC expansion) without needing a charger in Park City. Before the SLC location opened getting from the Tooele, UT SC to Evanston would have been a stretch.
 
Something must have changed recently. At least a little. When I(in Utah) ordered my S last month I was told I had to have it come to my house. But a few days ago (after Tesla met with the governor) I was offered the alternative of having the car delivered to the Salt Lake service center.
 
Something must have changed recently. At least a little. When I(in Utah) ordered my S last month I was told I had to have it come to my house. But a few days ago (after Tesla met with the governor) I was offered the alternative of having the car delivered to the Salt Lake service center.
The change may simply be that the service center will be open.
 
What if Tesla were to defy the "law" and just open up and start doing full business in Utah. Let them send the police/SWAT team to stop them. Tesla employees selling a USA made car powered by USA fuel being arrested for selling it would be a great news story. Tesla could use this to start the federal lawsuit of restraint of trade against these stupid bought-and-paid-for state governments.
 
What if Tesla were to defy the "law" and just open up and start doing full business in Utah. Let them send the police/SWAT team to stop them. Tesla employees selling a USA made car powered by USA fuel being arrested for selling it would be a great news story. Tesla could use this to start the federal lawsuit of restraint of trade against these stupid bought-and-paid-for state governments.

I like this idea.
 
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Reactions: Eclectic
I am surprised that (in the youtube video originally posted) he didn't mention how many other states allow Tesla to have dealership showrooms.
One way to make them agree would be to show that they are bucking the trend.
 
What if Tesla were to defy the "law" and just open up and start doing full business in Utah. Let them send the police/SWAT team to stop them. Tesla employees selling a USA made car powered by USA fuel being arrested for selling it would be a great news story. Tesla could use this to start the federal lawsuit of restraint of trade against these stupid bought-and-paid-for state governments.

Tesla is pretty bold, but I don't think they're that bold. There are times when asking for forgiveness is easier than asking for permission, but dealing with government is not one of them, IMO. The people in power will take it personally and hold a grudge, drawing out the process even longer. Lyft has tried this in some instances (specifically, St Louis) and it has backfired.
 
I was at a non-car related meeting on Monday and afterwards I was speaking with one of those attending and he mentioned he's in the car business. When I mentioned Tesla he surprised me by saying that he thinks the law keeping Tesla out of Utah is dumb. He added that one of his businesses that rents cars is looking to add Teslas to their rental fleet. So apparently not all car dealers are obstructionists.
 
It's a shame that their nice building is sitting there mostly unused. The service center in the back, however, is doing well, and users of the SuperCharger can make use of the bathrooms in the building and get a coke if they can get the eye of one of the service guys. The delivery people are using one room to deliver new cars.

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This from one of our (Utah) non-right wing senators:

Tesla in Utah--Killed by Utah Special Interetst

Sounds like a good guy. My only complaint would be that he doesn't bother to explain the (valid) reasoning behind the law in question. I think without that, it unfairly paints the dealers as evil. That's not to say they're not evil, because they're insisting on the letter of the law rather than the spirit, and only because it benefits them, but I think it's important that people understand the spirit of the law, and why it should be modified, but only slightly. In fairness, though, he may have just left that out for the sake of simplicity, so if that's the case, I can't say I blame him.
 
Sounds like a good guy. My only complaint would be that he doesn't bother to explain the (valid) reasoning behind the law in question. I think without that, it unfairly paints the dealers as evil. That's not to say they're not evil, because they're insisting on the letter of the law rather than the spirit, and only because it benefits them, but I think it's important that people understand the spirit of the law, and why it should be modified, but only slightly. In fairness, though, he may have just left that out for the sake of simplicity, so if that's the case, I can't say I blame him.

Unfairly paints the dealers as evil? No, the dealer cartel is evil. What's unfair is how the dealers have bought state legislatures and use them to protect the cartel's interests against consumers.
 
Unfairly paints the dealers as evil? No, the dealer cartel is evil. What's unfair is how the dealers have bought state legislatures and use them to protect the cartel's interests against consumers.

I knew that part would get a response. :) Perhaps what I should have said is "unfairly paints the dealers as more evil than they really are". To the uninitiated, without knowing the reason these laws were enacted in the first place, it implies that they were enacted explicitly to restrict competition. They were enacted to protect then-small businesses from being crushed by large automakers once they were able to afford their own distribution network. This was fair because the dealers had enabled the growth of those automakers in the first place. Obviously, this doesn't apply to Tesla, but the laws in some states were written without considering the possibility of a new automaker eschewing the dealer model altogether. The dealerships are trying to preserve those laws as they're written, and argue that the intent was in fact to require all automakers to use the dealership model, which is extremely disingenuous in my mind. Although it wouldn't surprise me in the least if some dealers actually believe it, I think most are just trying to use that as justification for continuation of a law that they see as beneficial to them, regardless of its intentions.
 
I knew that part would get a response. :) Perhaps what I should have said is "unfairly paints the dealers as more evil than they really are". To the uninitiated, without knowing the reason these laws were enacted in the first place, it implies that they were enacted explicitly to restrict competition. They were enacted to protect then-small businesses from being crushed by large automakers once they were able to afford their own distribution network. This was fair because the dealers had enabled the growth of those automakers in the first place. Obviously, this doesn't apply to Tesla, but the laws in some states were written without considering the possibility of a new automaker eschewing the dealer model altogether. The dealerships are trying to preserve those laws as they're written, and argue that the intent was in fact to require all automakers to use the dealership model, which is extremely disingenuous in my mind. Although it wouldn't surprise me in the least if some dealers actually believe it, I think most are just trying to use that as justification for continuation of a law that they see as beneficial to them, regardless of its intentions.

In that same vein, I have a relative who invested in a beer distributorship, and he has a feeling that middle men who invested in infrastructure should have a permanent monopoly in the areas they invested in. Otherwise, who would ever invest in anything? I find this idea the most frustrating thing imaginable.