Technology

The thing about the i3 episode here that I find particularly baffling is that anyone who is into cars at all, which hopefully includes someone who sells them for a living, should know that James May is a prominent owner of one. Yes, that James May, the "oh cock" guy, famous for along with the other two driving and talking about many, many cars on the television. He personally own(ed) one. He's done multiple films and videos on it, notwithstanding the segment from their Grand Tour show which included his going head to head with a Golf and has (I just checked) 2.7 million views on Youtube.

There should be no person on Earth in a position to look at or sell a BMW i3 who doesn't know every single little thing about it.

The power Dealerships have in the US is wacky. They look at auto sales as a way to fuel their service sales - vehicles with half the moving parts (ev's) don't appeal nearly as much in that angle. And Tesla really pissed them all off mightily by sidestepping the entire dealer system, leading to a hilarious situation in Texas where deliveries (still, iirc) to Texans can't just happen at the Tesla outlet - you can't walk in and walk out with a car, it has to come across state lines. https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-texas-cars-ship-out-of-state-sell-texans-2021-6

Texas fucked Tesla around, so Tesla built a factory there... and it continues lol. Dealers have a lot of power.

Apparently the latest "hip" way to shop for cars is to use a Broker website.

I've been using a car broker for a decade now and can confirm that it is indeed the best way to buy a car. You can tell them generally what you're looking for, they'll line up 3 or 4 models for you to compare. You go to one location to check them all out at the same time, and they handle everything else. You never have to go into a dealership at all. It's amazing.

Ty for a good breakdown. As tradition jalopnik using shitty titles to drum up drama. When the reality is less dramatic. But should be noted that dealerships have been scalping with markups left and right.

As with most things, "free market" is what they demand when they don't get have access to the market or can't command the whole market.

Once they have access or enough of a percentage to set the prices, suddenly the best thing is high barriers to entry and whatever else will help them maintain inelastic demand.

Many of the laws blocking direct to consumer sales of automobiles are old; literally dating back to when automobiles themselves were new. In many places those laws have been updated but that means we need to add nuance.

I live in Wyoming so that's the first example I'll use. Our law was updated in 2017 to allow direct to consumer sales -IF- the manufacturer hasn't previously sold new vehicles in the state using dealerships. So a company like Tesla or Rivian can sell directly to a consumer while the more traditional brands such as GM or Ford can't EXCEPT...

"A direct sale manufacturer shall not include an affiliate or wholly owned subsidiary of a manufacturer's line make that is presently sold or has previously been sold in this state through a new vehicle dealer."

So for example Ford can't direct sell any of its regular products here but they could direct sell things from their Troller brand. GMC can't direct sell you a Terrain but they could direct sell you a Baojun.

So here in Wyoming it can be done by nearly any new auto manufacturer and the existing ones can also do it IF they're willing to use a Brand that has never seen sold here new by a dealership.

In other States, like Colorado, they allow DtC sales but ONLY "...if the manufacturer makes only electric motor vehicles and has no franchised dealers of the same line-make. " So the normal auto manufacturers can't do DtC at all UNLESS they get rid of all their In-State dealers but companies like Tesla and Rivian can do it no problem.

You can look at this pdf, last updated in 2019, for a state by state breakdown.

What are they afraid of?

Being forced to sell less profitable product. Somebody has to do it. But they'll be damned if it's going to be them.

A ton of dealership money comes in due to their service side. For all electrics there's no oil change. Brakes last ages. Fewer parts to break down. Etc. Dealerships will lose a ton of money on service work, including missing out on selling a new vehicle to a current customer that comes in for an oil change.

Also, almost no one should buy a Ford lightning. Only people that use it like a car and not a truck, but want to look like a truck owner.

It’s not, there are 60k private dealerships in the US and they weren’t even included in the original survey the Washington post article mentions which is what this article is written on

Why do you think the conclusions aren’t fair? Does the sample seem biased? I’m very confused as to what you’re getting at.

Statistically speaking, that’s a perfectly fine sample size (large even). It sounds like it’s fairly representative. You can play around here if you’d like: https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/calculating-sample-size/

Private dealerships tend to be more heavily focused on used car sales in my understanding.

What larger than average maintenance costs are you referring to?

I'd say that last maintenance thing for many highish brands like Mercedes, BMW, etc. Lots of people make that complaint. But electric cars really aren't known for maintenance costs. If you corner really hard, since the car is heavier you might go through tires a little quicker but that's all. The battery that people like to complain about the potential cost lasts like 100,000-300,000 miles, so it's like comparing to a full engine swap in a gasoline car.

Yeah, I thought about directly linking to WaPo, but people always complain about paywalls. I do post WaPo content on Lemmy at times, great outlet

Washington Post is currently $4/4-weeks or $40/year USD for unlimited articles.