Michigan requires Tesla to sell cars through dealers

DETROIT -- Governor Rick Snyder today signed bipartisan legislation aimed at discouraging Tesla Motors from selling its electric cars directly through company stores.

The bill also prohibits auto manufacturers from dictating fees franchised dealers can charge customers. The legislation allows individual auto dealers to make the business decision whether to charge the transaction fee.

Snyder said direct sales of new vehicles is already banned in the state. This law will explicitly require all automakers to sell through a network of franchised dealers.

Earlier today, General Motors urged the governor to sign the bill.

Snyder, who has boasted of making Michigan more hospitable for entrepreneurs, brings Michigan into a growing number of states that have raised obstacles to the California-based electric car company.

That law didn't specifically mention Tesla, which started in 2003 and operates from a headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., and from a former General Motors-Toyota plant in nearby Fremont.

Tesla quickly issued its own statement, saying that what is good for GM's customers is not necessarily good for Tesla's customers.

"Tesla is selling a new product with a new technology," the electric car maker said. "The evidence is overwhelming that a traditional dealer-based approach does not work for electric cars."

Earlier this month, both houses of the Legislature passed a bill, backed by the Michigan Auto Dealers Association, that would require all automakers to sell through franchised dealers.