This petition isn't just about Tesla. If successful, it will set a
precedent, that others can follow. By signing the petition, you are
saying you want and support a consumer's right to freedom of choice.
> So, would Tesla's model cut down on competition?
Meaning would auto-dealers lose business?
I think not. Their business would change from the fat-n-wasteful
bloated-monopoly that it is to one that is more true to what the
customer wants (imagine sales staff that actually know their product,
helpful, and not on commission?). But dealers will be needed for a long
time to provide service to cars that use fuel.
It is the auto-dealer assn monopoly that is blocking change (they do not
want to disturb the goose that lays the golden eggs).
But change is not linear, it is exponential. Blocking change is not
living in the real-world.
As a boy in the early 1960's my Dad would gas-up at a downtown station
(Silicon Valley had not disseminated all the agriculture in Santa Clara
County at that time, so downtown was still fairly sleepy). The price of
gas was ~$0.30/gal (unless the stations were cutting the price in a
gas-war: I saw as low as $0.06/gal ...) and one could still get full
service from a station at no added cost. That station owner had to stop
what he was doing in the garage, and come out to pump gas. It is likely
he was making more money on the repair work than on selling gas for
pennies.
When I got off the freedom-bird after my Vietnam era military service,
and back in the world just after the 1st oil embargo, that station had
closed, been sold, then opened as a self-serve cheapo Rotten-Robbie type
station (low prices, lousy gas quality, but very-busy). So, that owner
must have sold the business, and was doing something else, perhaps an
auto repair shop where he would not be interrupted with having to pump
gas.
If I use Peri's analogy of cell phone service, the auto-dealer assn
blocking change, would be like requiring that no cell phone nor mobile
Internet access would be allowed unless purchased through a
good-o-boy-dealer-chain (and they are not interested in providing it).
Take-away/greatly-reduce/make more expensive the freedom of getting a
cell phone, and having mobile Internet access, the public would go
ballistic/postal. That is because they already know about it, and are
already addicted to it. Not many in the public know about plugins ...
yet.
Its all about freedom of choice, that the auto-dealer assn wants to
block to keep their profits from being disturbed/changed.
Unlocking auto-dealers' death-grip will also help with the public with
access to cars using future fuels that could then be possible to be
sold. The possibilities would be an opportunity for both businesses, and
the buying public (having choices is a good thing).
{brucedp.150m.com}
...
http://www.1960sflashback.com/1960/economy.asp
...
http://www.vietvet.org/glossary.htm
...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis
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On Sat, Jun 29, 2013, at 04:48 PM, Peri Hartman wrote:
> It's interesting, also, because back until the late 70's, most
> dealerships
> (perhaps all) were tied to one manufacturer. I believe they were
> independent, but if you associated with GM for example, you could only
> sell
> GM vehicles. That model broke down when Japanese cars started getting
> popular and US-maker dealers either had to diversify or they would go
> broke.
> So they diversified, to some degree anyway.
>
> So, would Tesla's model cut down on competition? One comparison I'm
> thinking of is cell phone services. There are only 4 major carriers in
> the
> US. While you can buy a lot on line or change service features on line,
> they do have company-owned retail outlets and phone and plan prices are
> universally set by each compnay. That would be similar to Tesla, I
> think.
> Do you consider that there is insufficient competition among carriers?
> Would there be a consumer benefit if independent retailers could set the
> plan and phone prices?
-
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