Two lawmakers Thursday got an up-close look at Tesla Motors; Model S electric car Thursday as a company executive pointed out features of the high-tech sedan.
State Reps. David Linsky, D-Natick, and John Scibak, D-South Hadley, said they were impressed with the car after driving it on roads near the company’s Natick Mall location.
“It is a terrific car,” Linsky said. “It was incredibly responsive and handled beautifully.”
Diarmuid O’Connell, a Tesla vice president, described features including a way to adjust how fast it decelerates, a computer system that controls many car functions and can be updated remotely and a battery under the floor to create a low center of gravity.
O’Connell said test drives are critical to showcasing the technology, whether to customers or policy makers.
“It’s so important to give people an experience in the driver’s seat,” he said
Both lawmakers were impressed with the car’s handling and quick acceleration and deceleration.
Tesla notes on its website the car, which has starting prices between $62,400 and $87,400 after a federal tax credit, accelerates instantaneously since a Tesla motor does not have hundreds of moving pieces like an internal combustion engine.
Tesla’s Natick operation has sparked controversy over whether it meets state automobile franchise laws, leading to legislation Linsky filed that would explicitly allow manufacturer-owned dealerships so long as there is not a franchise agreement between the manufacturer and any dealer in the state not owned or operated by the manufacturer.
Linsky proposed the legislation to protect the town of Natick after the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association filed a lawsuit appealing selectmen’s decision to issue a license for Tesla to sell cars in Natick. Tesla, through its subsidiary Tesla Motors MA, has a showroom in the mall and sales office on West Central Street. That lawsuit has subsequently been dismissed, though a separate suit against Tesla is pending in an appeals court.
The dealers association has claimed Tesla Motors owns Tesla Motors MA and sells the same line of cars as Tesla Motors makes, violating state franchise laws prohibiting manufacturer-owned dealers of the same line.
“It’s a problem they have created unnecessarily,” said Robert O’Koniewski, the association’s executive vice president. “They’re doing everything that a person would do to be a dealer (except) signing someone to be the contracted dealer.”
Two lawmakers Thursday got an up-close look at Tesla Motors; Model S electric car Thursday as a company executive pointed out features of the high-tech sedan.
State Reps. David Linsky, D-Natick, and John Scibak, D-South Hadley, said they were impressed with the car after driving it on roads near the company’s Natick Mall location.
“It is a terrific car,” Linsky said. “It was incredibly responsive and handled beautifully.”
Diarmuid O’Connell, a Tesla vice president, described features including a way to adjust how fast it decelerates, a computer system that controls many car functions and can be updated remotely and a battery under the floor to create a low center of gravity.
O’Connell said test drives are critical to showcasing the technology, whether to customers or policy makers.
“It’s so important to give people an experience in the driver’s seat,” he said
Both lawmakers were impressed with the car’s handling and quick acceleration and deceleration.
Tesla notes on its website the car, which has starting prices between $62,400 and $87,400 after a federal tax credit, accelerates instantaneously since a Tesla motor does not have hundreds of moving pieces like an internal combustion engine.
Tesla’s Natick operation has sparked controversy over whether it meets state automobile franchise laws, leading to legislation Linsky filed that would explicitly allow manufacturer-owned dealerships so long as there is not a franchise agreement between the manufacturer and any dealer in the state not owned or operated by the manufacturer.
Linsky proposed the legislation to protect the town of Natick after the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association filed a lawsuit appealing selectmen’s decision to issue a license for Tesla to sell cars in Natick. Tesla, through its subsidiary Tesla Motors MA, has a showroom in the mall and sales office on West Central Street. That lawsuit has subsequently been dismissed, though a separate suit against Tesla is pending in an appeals court.
The dealers association has claimed Tesla Motors owns Tesla Motors MA and sells the same line of cars as Tesla Motors makes, violating state franchise laws prohibiting manufacturer-owned dealers of the same line.
“It’s a problem they have created unnecessarily,” said Robert O’Koniewski, the association’s executive vice president. “They’re doing everything that a person would do to be a dealer (except) signing someone to be the contracted dealer.”
O’Koniewski questioned why the company has wasted time and money lobbying for the bill when it could use an independent dealer and resolve the issue.
He has said the franchise system creates competition among dealers of Ford or Chevrolet or other brands “ensuring consumers really get a fair shake in the process.”
Linsky said he supports letting the market decide whether it will support a certain business model and filed the legislation to protect the town of Natick.
Scibak, chairman of the joint consumer protection committee that plans to hold a hearing on the bill, said he will listen to people on both sides and has not developed a position on the bill. A date has yet to be set for the hearing.
O’Connell said Tesla may use dealers when its sales volume increases.
Now, it is working on educating people on electric vehicle technology and demonstrating that an electric motor is “superior to an internal combustion engine,” he said.
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