Missouri Dealers Sue State Over Tesla Motors

Another state is protesting Tesla Motors. The Missouri Automobile Dealers Association is suing the State Department of Revenue for allowing Tesla Motors to sell their vehicles directly to consumers. The suit, filed in Cole County Circuit Court, alleges the state violated the law when they licensed Tesla Motors as a franchise.

According to the lawsuit, the state department of revenue “… created a non-level playing field where one entity — Tesla — is subject to preferential treatment and all bona fide dealers are discriminated against.” The suit would like to revoke the license given to the Tesla Motors to operate their stores near St. Louis and Kansas City. This move on the part of the Missouri Dealers Association comes nearly nine months after tensions between the dealer lobby and Tesla grew in the show-me state.

According to an official Tesla Motors blog post from May 8th of 2014, Tesla was officially dissatisfied with a push in Missouri to legislate them out of the state. The posting reads in part, “We have just become aware of a last-minute attempt by the auto dealers lobby, via pressure on legislators, to bar Tesla from selling its vehicles direct to consumers in the state. This extraordinary maneuver amounts to a sneak attack to thwart due process and hurt consumer freedom in Missouri.”

Tesla claims that legislators tried to add “anti-Tesla” language HB 1124 at the last minute for a piece of legislation that didn’t directly relate to Tesla or direct-to-consumer sales. That amendment was pulled from the final bill. However, what does this latest legal action mean going forward? Is this just another example of Tesla Motors being the reason for a major lawsuit, or could this be the start of new trend? Is it possible that other dealer groups in other states will turn their legal outreach towards the government and not Tesla Motors?