WMAL Interview - LAURA VOZZELLA - 11.29.16

INTERVIEW — LAURA VOZZELLA – Washington Post reporter covering Virginia politics

Auto dealers sound alarm as Tesla pushes for second Virginia store. (Washington Post / Laura Vozzella) — RICHMOND — Don Hall, president of the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association, was making the hard sell. Staring directly into the camera, using the language of war, he urged car dealers to unite against a force that he said threatened their livelihoods: electric-car-maker Tesla. “For the last 29 years, I have fought as a gladiator to protect the rights of Virginia auto dealers and their franchise system,” he said in a video distributed to dealers this fall. “This system is under attack by the likes of Tesla and many others out there who believe the franchise system is a dinosaur and no longer works. . . . Let’s all strap on whatever it takes to win.” The reason that Hall was sounding the alarm: Tesla, which sells its cars directly to consumers rather than through franchise dealers, is trying to open a second store in Virginia. Car dealers in Virginia and across the country have been fighting Tesla, seeing the company’s direct-to-consumer sales model as a threat to the franchise system that they say protects consumers as well as their own business interests.