Indiana lawmakers have recently introduced House Bill 1592 to the floor under the guise of protecting the business models of car dealerships.
This is the second bill of its kind — the first was House Bill 1254 from early 2015. The first bill had little success, and the Editorial Board believes House Bill 1592 is doomed to the same fate.
The bill essentially bars private electric automobile manufacturers from selling their vehicles directly to their consumers.
While refraining from mentioning any specific manufacturers, Tesla Motors is the only company that meets the criteria in the bill.
If the bill were to pass, Tesla would no longer be able to sell directly to its Indiana consumers by the year 2019.
Tesla’s business model is well known in Indiana. Keystone Mall has a Tesla store where customers can buy vehicles directly, and they plan to build a maintenance and service center in the Castleton area in the near future.
If this bill were to pass, these stores would have to close. Due to the local store locations, Tesla has found many loyal customers in Indiana. The outrage from Indiana consumers is what caused House Bill 1254 to fail.
With a service and maintenance center in the works, this bill has even less grounding than it did in early 2015.
The bill was introduced to protect dealerships from the competition manufacturers like Tesla provide, but lawmakers made the argument that there was nowhere consumers of Tesla could conveniently have their car serviced.
This isn’t the case anymore, which blatantly exposes the agenda of Indiana dealerships.
It’s no secret that car dealerships are large and politically influential.
The National Auto Dealers Association contributed $3.2 million to political groups during the 2012 election cycle.
These dealerships prioritize issues such as blocking right-to-repair legislation, which bars private mechanics from accessing information about the parts of their cars.
It is clear that the main motivation for these dealerships is making sure they remain ahead of any private competitors. It is apparent that Tesla’s way of doing business, where they sell directly to consumers instead of going through a middleman in the form of a dealership.
Tesla’s business model has obviously become a threat to those big dealerships.
The Editorial Board believes Tesla should not be barred from selling directly to its consumers.
Any complaint that Tesla does not adhere to the same safety standards as any other manufacturers are not grounded. Tesla’s Model S received the highest safety rating of any car in history in 2013 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
If this bill were to pass, it would be very upsetting for Tesla consumers in Indiana.
The manufacturer has many loyal customers that prefer the efficiency of the business models and the automobiles in general.
Tesla helps break the monopolistic effect of United States car dealerships by directly providing high-quality vehicles for many Indiana citizens and should be allowed to continue.
