Over the last several years, I have taken a leading public role in advocating for the freedom of an automobile manufacturer to open up its own showrooms and service centers and deal directly with consumers. As I have explained in detail in some of the articles, essays, and letters linked below, the car dealers’ lobby has tried to block direct distribution by new car companies like Tesla Motors, Rivian, Lordstown Motors, and Lucid Motors by relying on decades-old state laws that were intended to address a very different situation than that currently presented in the market. Blocking consumers’ ability to deal directly with car companies is bad for consumer welfare and technological innovation.
- White Paper on Michigan Legislative Reform (2021)
- Grand Bargain (published in Automotive News 10/19/20)
- HB 6233 White Paper
- Academics letter opposing HB 6233
- The Fiction of Locally Owned Mom and Pop Car Dealers
- Tesla, Dealer Franchise Laws, and the Politics of Crony Capitalism
- Tesla and the Car Dealers’ Lobby
- Crane: It’s Time for Michigan to Say Yes to Tesla
- Daniel Crane: Saying yes to Tesla in Virginia
- Column: Gov. Snyder should veto anti-Tesla bill
In April or 2021, I helped to organize two open letters supporting the right of any electric vehicle manufacturer to sell and service its cars directly to consumers. The first is by a group of 76 economists and law professors, including seven former DOJ or FTC chief economists, a former FTC Commissioner, a former head of the Antitrust Division, and a Nobel Laureate in Economics. The second is by a “strange bedfellows” coalition of environmental, free market, consumer, labor, technology, and civil rights organizations:
Click to access Direct-Sales-Nationwide-Organizations-Open-Letter-4.13.pdf
Click to access Direct-Sales-Nationwide-Academics-Letter-4.14.pdf
In 2015, I organized a similarly diverse coalition of ten public interest organizations that typically don’t see eye to eye to advocate in favor of direct distribution. Our open letter and some stories about it are here:
- Sign-on Statement to State Government Leaders About the Anti-Consumer Effects of Laws Prohibiting Direct Distribution of Automobiles
- Koch Brothers, Sierra Club Join Tesla in Fight With Dealers
- Koch Brothers, Sierra Club Join Law Prof To Support Tesla
In 2014, I organized a coalition of over 70 prominent economists and law professors to explain how prohibitions on direct distribution are harmful to consumers.
- Open Letter to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on the Direct Automobile Distribution Ban Against Tesla
- Economists’ and law professors’ letter against Tesla ban
My remarks on direct distribution at the Federal Trade Commission and my appearance on Bloomberg News appear here:
Professor Dan Crane 