For decades, states have enforced anti-consumer policies that boost car dealers’ profits by sharply raising prices on American motorists. When automobiles first reached the mass market more than a century ago, manufacturers quickly settled on dealership franchises as the best distribution model. The contractual arrangements between dealerships and manufacturers meant that both parties relied on […]
Fuel Emission and Economy Stickers on Cars Can Deceive
Long ago, a mechanical engineer once told me that cars can be optimized for efficiency, for performance or for maintainability, but not for two of the three. Few consumers have met that engineer, but the auto market teaches us that to gain acceleration we sacrifice fuel economy, and to cut emissions we need to tolerate […]
Now It’s Tesla Asking for Legislative Favors
Recently, we have pointed to examples where Tesla has met barriers to market entry, effectively being blocked from selling electric cars to consumers. Well, it now appears that Tesla is trying to get legislation to provide it a leg up on its competition by limiting how competitors can sell their electric cars. In ACI’s view, competition means […]
The Daily Caller: Colluding with the Automotive Dealer Cartel
This Daily Caller Piece, written by ACI researcher Alan Daley, talks about the barriers to entry facing Tesla, including the roadblocks by the Automotive Dealer Cartel. You can read the article in the Daily Caller — http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/19/new-jersey-colludes-with-the-auto-dealer-cartel-in-blocking-tesla-from-direct-sales/.
