Electric cars may now be sold in outlets in New Jersey again, following a year in legal limbo, after state governor Chris Christie signed a law on Wednesday that will allow the zero-emissions luxury cars made by Tesla Motors to go on sale there.
“We heard about a minute ago on Twitter, we are pretty excited,” a salesman at one of the two Tesla branches in the state told the Guardian, while declining to be named, saying only staff at the manufacturer’s headquarters in Palo Alto, California, are allowed to comment officially.
“We are proud to tell New Jersey that we are open for business,” said Diarmuid O’Connell, vice-president of corporate business development for Tesla Motors.
If there is an immediate rush from the public, Tesla might find itself challenged as the sales room in question had only two cars in stock – having not been allowed to sell any to the public for almost 12 months.
Christie signed into law a bill passed by the state senate just two days ago that allows the company to sell its cars directly to the public without going through traditional dealerships.
Under the law, Tesla is permitted to have four outlets in New Jersey. It currently has two, one in Paramus and one in Short Hills.
But potential customers have only been able to take a demonstration drive and poke and prod the vehicles in the two showrooms in the state for the past year – not buy them or even discuss the price, which starts at a hefty $69,000, with staff at the site.
The hiatus followed a row that entangled Christie, the New Jersey state legislature, the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC), car dealers, Tesla Motors and, ultimately, the motoring public.
A year ago, the MVC blocked sales of Tesla cars from the company’s outlets in New Jersey, claiming the manufacturer would be breaking state law if it bypassed the traditional dealership model to sell directly to the public.
Christie said his hands were tied until state lawmakers would sign the relevant legislation.
Tesla’s high-profile chief executive, engineering, solar energy and space rocket impresario Elon Musk, blew a gasket.
In a statement to “the people of New Jersey”, he accused the auto dealer lobby of cutting “a backroom deal with the governor” to circumvent the legislative process by persuading the MVC, which he said was “composed of political appointees of the governor”, to end the public’s right to buy cars at a manufacturer store within the state.
Tesla Motors took to Twitter to accuse the state’s auto dealer community of being “bad for innovation” by supporting a regulation to block the sale of the cars.
The New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers fired back in remarks in Newsweek that it was Tesla that was “stifling innovation” with its “petulant” response to the ban.
Enough hot air was generated to increase New Jersey’s already relatively poor record on pollution, which Tesla Motors’ products attempt to go some way to addressing.
For the past year, consumers in New Jersey have been able to buy a Tesla vehicle there only by ordering online and going through an awkward process for delivery and registration.
“I said last year that if the legislature changed the law, I would sign new legislation put on my desk, and that is exactly what I’m doing. We’re pleased that manufacturers like Tesla will now have the opportunity to establish direct sales operations for consumers in a manner lawfully in New Jersey,” Christie said on Wednesday.
