Colorado just passed a new law specially designed to advantage Elon Musk, Rivian and anyone else “selling” electric cars. They will be permitted to “sell” them directly to “buyers” (in air quotes for the same reason you’d put DMV “customer” in air quotes) but everyone else will be forbidden to do so. Â
Thus, Elon et al will not have to spend money on physical dealerships and the staff and so on (or pay the property taxes) that everyone else is required by law to spend money on before they’re allowed to make any money selling cars – which they actually do, in spite of all the hobbles placed in their path.
EVs, of course, only “sell” because they’re given away – using other people’s money to “buy” them. Without all of that other-people’s-money, they wouldn’t. This ugly fact is of course unmentionable for the same reason we’re not supposed to talk about women firemen (sic) not being strong enough to carry a 200 pound man out of a burning building but are hired on the pretense that they are able to do it.
One wonders whatever happened to the idea of equal protection of the laws. This being a pretty egregious example of its opposite.
Colorado could have abolished the law requiring new cars – electric and otherwise – to be sold through dealerships. It’s an obnoxious law, designed by crony capitalists colluding to make new cars more expensive by preventing customers from buying directly from the manufacturer, thereby eliminating the middleman.
And to eliminate the competitive price haggling which would benefit car buyers, if they had the option to buy a car at a full-service dealer or buy it direct from the manufacturer.
But as an infamous crony capitalist once quipped, competition is a sin.
Especially if you’re “selling” electric cars, which can’t. 
Thus Colorado decided to something even more obnoxious – by granting Elon et al an exemption from the obnoxious law, which remains in force for everyone else –Â in order to make non-electric cars more expensive and thereby make electric cars seem less so. A Tesla or Rivian – already artificially advantaged via tax kickbacks which buyers of not-electric cars can’t cash in on – are further artificially advantaged by not having to fold the cost of a dealership into the deal.
It’s of a piece with general trends. EVs are the vehicular equivalent of a special or differently-abled child whose disability must above all not be acknowledged no matter the costs imposed on the not-special.
Only worse, because the disabled child is a human being and can’t help being disabled – or having been born. The EV, on the other hand, is a manufactured defective – one that didn’t have to be.
The plug could be pulled with a clean conscience.
. . .
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More from Coloradofornia:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/two-10-year-old-boys-arrested-on-felonies-for-playing-with-toy-guns-in-colorado/
You have to think of EVs as modern religious icons. Holy symbols of the New Green Religion. Earth Mother Gaia demands obedience. Or else, as St.Greta warns us all.
Elon’s next demand: “Well, we don’t tax churches, why should Tesla pay any?”
Sounds like John Rockefeller and Pope Francis may be cousins!
Colorado, where I live, is a lot like Virginia: the sensible rural people are out-voted by concentrations of idiots in the cities. Colorado has flirted with a ban on high-capacity magazines, now thankfully repealed.
Hi JdL,
The urban-rural problem waxes; it is like a bad marriage and the only solution is a divorce. But while the rural “man” would happily leave the marriage on reasonable terms and peaceably, the urban “woman” will never allow the “man” to leave. It begs the question about consent of the governed – the supposed basis for legitimate government.
The answer to this question pretty much established the illegitimacy of the government.
A longer rant is forthcoming…
What I would like to see is the old city state come back. Put a wall, ditch, or some form of barrier around the major cities. Let those willing to live in them do (to the city folk) whatever they want and pass whatever laws they want. Everything outside would be ‘rural’ and subject the least interference possible from the federal government and nothing without an agreed to contract with those ‘governed’. An oversimplification but I think the idea is clear.
Never going to happen, but it would be nice.
I predicted a long time ago that the current dealer network system we have today would go away.
My thoughts were that there would be local service centers, at first by the brand itself, but then morphing into multiple brand service centers.
Sales would become by regional centers as well. These would be different by brand at first, and maybe stay that way, but could become ‘all GM cars at this place to see and test drive’, or whatever.
The big boys want to get ride of independent owner-operators. They want the control.
This happens in my industry all the time, direct-sales vs Rep’s/distributors. It ebbs and flows back and forth, and will with Auto’s as well longterm.
What happens is the Manuf. that wants to go direct, does, and then they find out it costs a lot more than they thought to do business right.
I while back the #1 manuf. in my industry announced they were going direct, fired all their reps. All the competitors in the industry cried ‘we’re never going to be able to beat them ever again’. I was the only voice that said not so fast. If my time in the Corp. world taught me anything, middle managers and up don’t like competition from within. Etc… Once they took over direct sales, they numbed down everyone. My little company doubled down on getting the best people and we beat the #1 direct Manuf. more than ever before………..
Same will happen in the auto world if there is true freedom left in the USA, which I’m not so sure anymore.
Eric this isn’t by some local vote in Colorado, the Gov probably got a tap on the shoulder to do this or else. This is all going according to the 5 year plan from higher up. Ford and GM didn’t make a market decision to stop selling cars, they got a tap on the shoulder. Can’t have ICE cars being more affordable than electric cars. VW got a “strong” tap on the shoulder as well.
To add to that, we are all going to get a tap on the shoulder to get out of our ICE cars soon…
And then to get from behind the wheel…or else.
A bit off topic, but speaking of being a customer – I just got a letter from HMRC (Her Majesties Revenue and Customs, our version of the IRS) describing me as a “customer” and offering to help me calculate how much money they should steal from me for the next year…. now what do you say to that….
Depending on what they imparted to you, I’d say “mum’s” the word till I could no longer.
Coloradofornia. Used to be a nice state. No surprise. I left 23 years ago.
Colorado, the Pennsylvania of California, the first place the commies fled to when they had to reap what they sowed
What a shame, loved Denver and San Diego, but unfortunately, the left coast is lost.
Where are you now?
East of the mountains in Montana.
Colorado had a major shift sometime in the 60’s and then again in the 80’s. Our family had land there but they stole it by ginning up the tax on non-resident land owners to the point it wasn’t worth it.
It was originally bought for a few dollars an acre back in the early 60’s. It was remote as hell with not a level spot on it but the stroke of a pen stole the land of thousands of people who didn’t live in Co. I suspect NM will follow suit since I’ve been expecting it for decades and their taxes for non-residents has steadily increased.
More idiocy in Coloradofornia:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/colorado-woman-moose-breckenridge-attack-video-wildlife
Heck, you don’t even walk up behind a horse and pet it on the butt. I expected it to kick her across the street with both hind legs and never even look around. Actually, I’m disappointed that it didn’t.
I drove through Breckinridge a few years ago to get from C Springs to Steamboat. Never again! If I ever have to do that again, I will drive the extra miles around through Buenie and Leadville.
She was stunned by the realization Trump would win again by default. Don’t be too hard on her……let the moose or Trump do that.
The Sociopaths In Charge have surrendered any pretense of justice in the US. Their edicts hold no regard whatsoever for any inclination toward justice or fair play, with the beneficiarys being those who support the insane in power directly, or support their insane notions.