Hacker News Reader

Tesla's rivals are big employers in Michigan. That is also a factor, their employee's have only experienced the positive side of protectionism.

View on HN

It's possible the Big 3 would actually prefer a Tesla-like direct-to-consumer model; for example, Chrysler tried opening a Chrysler-owned store in LA a few years ago, only to have it shot down by local law.

I'd imagine that if one of the Big 3 started doing direct sales, dealers would stop selling their cars en masse. There's no way for an established manufacturer to stop selling to dealers.

Dealers are nice because they hold inventory on their books instead of the manufacturers.

Tesla doesn't care about that much because they don't have any inventory.

So charge customers more who want to take a vehicle off the lot vs waiting for it to be produced on demand. If there is a cost, pay for it if you want it.

The dealers are probably big employers in Michigan too!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com