
Tesla can sell vehicles in Michigan under legal settlement - rmason
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2020/01/21/tesla-reaches-settlement-michigan-ban-blocking-sales/41038913/
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rmason
A little background on why this was necessary. Being the automotive state the
lobbyists for the auto dealers are one of the most powerful. These auto
dealers thought Tesla selling cars direct in the state was an affront to their
entire industry.

So they arranged for a bill to quietly be introduced in both houses of the
state legislature and voted on at 2 am in the morning that banned Tesla from
selling, repairing or delivering vehicles in the state of Michigan. This was
greeted with a firestorm of opposition once Michigan's citizens found out.

At the time it wasn't likely that they'd sell many cars in the state but
people were mad at the attempt to stifle competition and the feeling that it
wasn't playing fair the way this was passed without public debate.

So if you want to buy a Tesla in Michigan you have to buy and pick up your car
from Cleveland. If it's serviced you have to arrange to have it towed to
Cleveland. As a result you don't see many Tesla's in the state and until
recently few charging stations.

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A_Parr
A little background on why this was necessary is that the law already existed
for decades to stop GM/Ford/Chrysler from doing the same thing, which was a
very real threat to their industry. The bill simply changes a word to keep
Tesla from using the loophole of not having a franchise to begin with.

From the article, it sounds like Tesla simply decided to become a used car
dealer in Michigan as another workaround. It's not a settlement because
nothing else has changed. The law didn't apply to selling used cars.

