Tesla banned from selling cars in Arizona (Sun City, Sun City West: buyers, taxes)

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by caryberry

Tesla cars are being brought across the Arizona border.

I saw three different ones (2 AZ tags, 1 CA tags) in Scottsdale last week. Beautiful automobiles and quiet - quiet as a whisper. Just because there is not a "store" in AZ will not stop people from buying them (CA has numerous stores as does Las Vegas).

As far as charging stations - the numbers are growing and growing fast. http://www.teslamotors.com/findus/list?types=store,service,supercharger®ions=northa merica

Like my grandma used to say...you can't stop a right idea.

Not sure it's really a "right" idea.. when people have a minor fender-bender & realize their choice is to tow the car out of state for repairs or allow untrained workers to repair it.. not sure that's gonna fly - especially on a vehicle that uses non-standard materials, like glued-together aluminum subframes & carbon-fiber body panels. You can't hire an untrained local body-shop to pound out a dent (and you could on a Delorean, btw).

You can hate on local dealers & service all you want, but they do serve a purpose.

[asufan]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Tesla might have a future as a battery and component manufacturer but you will never see many Teslas on the roads. Tesla is the battery a car made famous. If and when (and both of those are highly debatable but certainly not now) electric vehicles are sold in numbers, they will be GMs, Fords, Toyotas, etc. Maybe with a Tesla battery.

Once again I disagree. Not sure if you actually know anything about it or are just making off the wall comments without any research or knowledge. Tesla recently won Motor Trend car of the year. People that test drive it essentially say it's the perfect vehicle, just amazing to drive. I'm sure you may not ever see them on the road, but I do. In fact two people in my subdivision drive Tesla's. I see them a few times a week in the area when I'm out and about. I have been following this company closely and watch all of the financial analysts, and none of them have said it would go the way of the Delorean. Some are skeptical of the current stock price, some see it going above $350, but no one is negative on the product or the future potential of the product. It is already selling battery packs and motors to Toyota. No one can do electric vehicles like Tesla, no one likely will unless they buy the company.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by asufan

Once again I disagree. Not sure if you actually know anything about it or are just making off the wall comments without any research or knowledge. Tesla recently won Motor Trend car of the year. People that test drive it essentially say it's the perfect vehicle, just amazing to drive. I'm sure you may not ever see them on the road, but I do. In fact two people in my subdivision drive Tesla's. I see them a few times a week in the area when I'm out and about. I have been following this company closely and watch all of the financial analysts, and none of them have said it would go the way of the Delorean. Some are skeptical of the current stock price, some see it going above $350, but no one is negative on the product or the future potential of the product. It is already selling battery packs and motors to Toyota. No one can do electric vehicles like Tesla, no one likely will unless they buy the company.

I can see Tesla becoming very popular in the Valley soon. In the Miami metro, you didn't see many Tesla cars either until that Motor Trend award. Now they are all over the place. I see the same thing happening in the Phoenix metro. And you are already seeing that. There are too many BMW's, Mercedes, Audi and Lexus all over the Valley. Those consumers can afford Tesla and will buy them.

[asufan]

Another note. I was recently in the BMW dealer waiting room when a guy came in asking about the i8, I listened in to the salesperson in the lobby to get some info myself. Apparently the electric range on this tesla "competitor" is 23 miles. The Tesla S gets 265 miles. Slight difference? Both are luxury vehicles with nice performance. The base MSRP for the BMW i8 is $136,000. The base price of the Tesla S is $94,000. Tell me again how Toyota, Ford (lol) and others with take over this market segment.

[Potential_Landlord]

Tesla is like religion - you either love it or hate it. The question is what does Arizona have to lose by allowing them to sell here? If a buyer assumes all the risks of not having a local dealership, should we stop him? What is the public interest? It smells a lot like car dealers buying their political influence.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by Potential_Landlord

Tesla is like religion - you either love it or hate it. The question is what does Arizona have to lose by allowing them to sell here? If a buyer assumes all the risks of not having a local dealership, should we stop him? What is the public interest? It smells a lot like car dealers buying their political influence.

The public interest is those that buy these cars without any dealership support are going to ask the government for help when things go sideways. Tesla can (and does) conduct its business out of state - if they want to sell cars here(with a showroom) , they need to follow the same rules everyone else does.

I personally have a problem with a company that can only be described as a corporate "welfare queen" wanting special treatment from the same government tit that's keeping it afloat. If you read up on the details, Tesla is actually quite impressive at not only contributing nothing to the economy, but sucking up the freebies on a scale that would make a wall-street banker blush, golden toilets and all.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

I can see Tesla becoming very popular in the Valley soon. In the Miami metro, you didn't see many Tesla cars either until that Motor Trend award.

Seriously? The Motor Trend car of the year award means something?

Look back through some of the previous winners.. Citroen sm, Chevy Vega and Citation, Ford's Mustang II, Reliant "K" cars.. the Volt *AND* the Prius.. and my personal favorite.. the Renault Alliance.. :-)

That's some good company there!

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by asufan

Once again I disagree. Not sure if you actually know anything about it or are just making off the wall comments without any research or knowledge. Tesla recently won Motor Trend car of the year. People that test drive it essentially say it's the perfect vehicle, just amazing to drive. I'm sure you may not ever see them on the road, but I do. In fact two people in my subdivision drive Tesla's. I see them a few times a week in the area when I'm out and about. I have been following this company closely and watch all of the financial analysts, and none of them have said it would go the way of the Delorean. Some are skeptical of the current stock price, some see it going above $350, but no one is negative on the product or the future potential of the product. It is already selling battery packs and motors to Toyota. No one can do electric vehicles like Tesla, no one likely will unless they buy the company.

Tesla will be around as long as governments hand them money. They may have a future in partnerships like they have with Toyota, but they are not going to be a major (or even a minor) player in the new car space. Believe it or not! (oh, Ford will be the leader in electric vehicles. They got more money from the gov, a lot more, than Tesla).

[asufan]

Originally Posted by ponderosa

tesla will be around as long as governments hand them money. They may have a future in partnerships like they have with toyota, but they are not going to be a major (or even a minor) player in the new car space. Believe it or not! (oh, ford will be the leader in electric vehicles. They got more money from the gov, a lot more, than tesla).

Oh Ok

[wit-nit]

I've see a Tesla driving around in Sun City West several times over the past 6 months. One of those times I parked my SUV next to it in a shopping center, it looked like a little ant, it's so small. Not too bad looking but not worth $94,000 to me though.