I love my state, but we do some stupid ass ****. This is akin to the lack of gambling here. We won't legalize gambling but will gladly travel in droves to Louisiana or Vegas. We're missing out on millions in tax money, jobs and money going back into the TX economy. It's an expensive car. I don't think that anyone who can afford one will blink twice at paying a couple grand to get it shipped in. So we're missing out on tax money, jobs and the money that it puts back into the local economy. Stupid ass ****.
Kinda hypocritical for Texas to do this, but I'm not surprised considering that Tesla is one of those "evil liberal companies" that has received taxpayer subsidy. For those who think we haven't gotten return on our investment, we will, trust me. Over the next few decades, electric cars are going to be the only thing that makes sense. Owning a gasoline car will be straight up stupid. Every car company is going to have technology like this.
If it made economic sense, it wouldn't need to be subsidized or loan backed by the taxpayer. Elon Musk has to be laughing all the way to the bank. He gets a half billion dollar cash infusion from the taxpayer, takes none of the risk, and gets all the return. Not to mention a huge chunk of every car he makes is paid for by someone other than the customer (the taxpayer or other car companies).
I don't know guys. I personally prefer buying cars in a shopping mall. Grab a pair of chinos from Brooks Brothers, a Wetzel Pretzel and a car all in one stop. How much more convenient can you make this process for me.
It doesn't make economic sense now obviously, a cheaper technology is already in place. However a fully electric car is the superior technology, it's just more expensive and therefore can't compete at this time with traditional cars. That will change soon though. While it is true that Musk is getting a great deal out of this, I'd say that someone should compete with him in this technology.
I thought American politicians clamor for less dependence on foreign oil. When they are finally given a solution to this- the politicians create further burden as to implementing this goal.
The US government has had a long history of supporting scientific r&d that has been critical to our growing economy. If you are so concerned about taxpayer subsidies, why are you not demanding the $52 bil in oil subsidies be lowered?
hahahaha! I want to vote for this man. "So because Tesla doesn’t go through a completely unnecessary middleman who turns the pleasant experience of buying a car into something resembling haggling for a donkey in Marrakesh, they can’t sell their cars in Texas." (that's not the bottom line, by the way -- just a funny line.)
I'm coming in from the cheap seats on this one without having read the thread, but isn't the reason the dealership structure exists is so that auto manufacturers can also have dealerships in smaller cities, rather than just the biggest cities?
I have had the good fortune to ride in one, and they're fantastic. Too expensive for me to ever have one, of course, but it seems unAmerican to forbid people from buying one if they want it.
Oh I would outlaw all corporate subsidies, guaranteed loans, bailouts. You'd quickly find out which companies are producing something of value people are willing to pay for, and which ones are living off the taxpayer. The subsidies oil companies get are not specific to the production of oil (the government is not giving them tax credits to make more oil, unlike Tesla which gets tax credits to make more overpriced cars). Musks' entire business model is based around preferential tax credits and eco credits and taxpayer loans to assume all his risk. I have no sympathy for him complaining about the system being rigged against him in this instance. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/bctRYvUJKe4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It's true, but Tesla has found a way around it. I've been to the Tesla store in Austin. They aren't allowed to talk about pricing, but I was able to learn all about it, see the different options, and then was invited to test drive one (they have specific weekends when they do that). If you want to buy one, you just do it online and then pick it up locally. So it's not ideal, but it's also not really *that* difficult to buy one if you want to in Texas. Takes away impulse purchases, but no one should be buying one of these things on impulse anyway.
I haven't ridden in one but have seen several of them up close. They definitely are very nice cars. Both the sedan and sports car have great styling and performance. Also last week I saw a Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt up close and they have pretty good styling too.
