If you can't beat them, sue them. NY and MA dealers slap Tesla Motors with lawsuit

Innovate or die, or in NY and MA sue your competitor so they play by your rules. Tesla Motor company, makers of the Model S electric car that just won Automobile Car of the Year is coming under fire for their sales practices. Unlike traditional car manufactures such as BMW that build cars and support a network of dealerships to do the sales, Tesla is selling directly to the public. This is rubbing the ingrained establishment of dealer networks the wrong way.

Robert O'Koniewski, the executive vice president of the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association, is suing Tesla for opening a store in a local mall.

In Massachusetts, franchise law 93B prohibits a manufacturer from owning a dealership, O'Koniewski says. An auto dealer association in New York is also suing Tesla.

Typically, car manufacturers build the cars, then ship them out to local car dealers, which have to meet the various manufacturers' standards.

Manny Quinones is a sales manager at one of those dealers, Manhattan Motorcars in New York.

"We're multibrand, so we have brand-specific showrooms," he says.

Each brand represents another manufacturer that can require expensive equipment and training. Not having to meet those various needs, O'Koniewski says, gives Tesla an unfair advantage.

http://www.npr.org/2012/11/09/164736...franchise-laws



Do you think NY and MA are blocking new innovation with their laws?