{"id":25364,"date":"2020-05-14T14:55:54","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T18:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=25364"},"modified":"2020-05-14T14:55:54","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T18:55:54","slug":"payne-as-california-battle-rages-tesla-celebrates-michigan-win-with-its-first-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/payne-as-california-battle-rages-tesla-celebrates-michigan-win-with-its-first-store","title":{"rendered":"Payne: As California battle rages, Tesla celebrates Michigan win with its first store"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\"><em>Clarkston<\/em>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Tesla Inc. big top is open for business in Michigan.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-StIMjmuSz1c\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/05\/13\/PDTN\/c00cb3d1-be36-46a3-a179-9a450bc9e0e2-teslaMICH_front2.JPG?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"SUV and sedan models front the new Tesla Clarkston store. The service center is open and the showroom will follow in a few months.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/05\/13\/PDTN\/c00cb3d1-be36-46a3-a179-9a450bc9e0e2-teslaMICH_front2.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/05\/13\/PDTN\/c00cb3d1-be36-46a3-a179-9a450bc9e0e2-teslaMICH_front2.JPG\" \/>SUV and sedan models front the new Tesla Clarkston store. The service center is open and the showroom will follow in a few months.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\">The Silicon\u00a0Valley automaker\u00a0has opened its first service center in Michigan since the state overturned its ban on Tesla sales and service in January. The Tesla service center is located off Interstate 75 on Dixie Highway just west of downtown Clarkston in a former Chrysler-Jeep dealership.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Tesla\u2019s raised\u00a0profile in Michigan comes at a time when the company has been front and center in the COVID-19 shutdown wars for defying California&#8217;s Alameda County and re-opening its manufacturing facility there in Fremont. Long a darling of the green left for its embrace of environmentally-friendly\u00a0electric cars, Tesla\u2019s defiant stance on the\u00a0Michigan\u00a0and California fronts has made it a hero to free-marketers on the right as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Noted Lansing economic consulting firm, the Anderson Economic Group, has found itself on both sides of the barbed wire\u00a0against Tesla in recent months. After arguing on behalf of\u00a0dealer\u00a0bodies that Tesla could not sell directly to customers in states like Michigan, AEG provided crucial fodder this week for Tesla\u2019s California reopening. They found Alameda County COVID cases were\u00a0substantially lower than those in similar auto manufacturing areas where plants have been authorized to reopen.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ad-position-61\" class=\"partner-placement partner-spike partner-placement-visible\" data-ad-placement=\"native-article_link\" data-ad-sizes=\"[&quot;fluid&quot;,[3,3], [2,6]]\" data-monetization-id=\"native-article_link\" data-monetization-sizes=\"fluid,3,3,2,6\">\u201cOur analysis shows daily probable and confirmed cases for Alameda County&#8217;s 1.6 million population are averaging about 40 per day, with a total thus far of just over 2,000,\u201d said Sara Bowers, a consultant with Anderson Economic Group, in a statement. \u201cIn contrast, Wayne County Michigan, with a population of 1.75 million, has approximately 18,000 cases.&#8221;<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Tesla\u2019s Clarkston location offers Michigan Tesla owners their first service location in the state. Previously, Tesla owners had to take their car to Toledo, Cleveland, or\u00a0Chicago where Tesla was approved under state law. Customers also had the option of scheduling Tesla mobile units to come to their homes which can often take weeks.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-StIMjmvGYrA\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/05\/13\/PDTN\/3b1d9924-d2d7-439c-ad08-5212aad26976-teslaMICH_service.JPG?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"The new Tesla Clarkston service center is the brand's first in Michigan after a long legal fight.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/05\/13\/PDTN\/3b1d9924-d2d7-439c-ad08-5212aad26976-teslaMICH_service.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/05\/13\/PDTN\/3b1d9924-d2d7-439c-ad08-5212aad26976-teslaMICH_service.JPG\" \/>The new Tesla Clarkston service center is the brand&#8217;s first in Michigan after a long legal fight.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Tesla Clarkston will also eventually open a showroom \u2014 windows are festooned with signs reading\u00a0\u201cCOMING SOON\u201d \u2014 so customers can browse Tesla&#8217;s lineup of Model 3 and S sedans and X and Y SUVs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Under Michigan\u2019s previous Tesla ban, enacted by Gov. Rick\u00a0Snyder in 2014, Tesla employees were prohibited from assisting in any sale of a vehicle. Now employees will be able to assist in test drives, price discussions, and other sales activities. However, purchased cars must still be sold\u00a0outside the state and delivered to customers who can then transfer the title in state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Michigan had been one of 16 states to bar Tesla sales and service under dealer\u00a0pressure. But Tesla has endeared itself to green politicians over the years, including the Obama administration which provided a crucial $465 million loan to the electric automaker during the depths of the Great Recession to keep it afloat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">That green cred\u00a0appealed to incoming Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and state Attorney General Dana Nessel who, in their settlement allowing Tesla stores, applauded the company\u2019s \u00a0\u201cstated mission of accelerating the world\u2019s transition to electric vehicles for the good of the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-StIMjmuOuXM\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/05\/13\/PDTN\/ca5218fd-a839-47f2-9d8f-6a95066b484f-teslaMICH_front.JPG?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"SUV and sedan models front the new Tesla Clarkston store. The service center is open and the showroom will follow in a few months.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/05\/13\/PDTN\/ca5218fd-a839-47f2-9d8f-6a95066b484f-teslaMICH_front.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/05\/13\/PDTN\/ca5218fd-a839-47f2-9d8f-6a95066b484f-teslaMICH_front.JPG\" \/>SUV and sedan models front the new Tesla Clarkston store. The service center is open and the showroom will follow in a few months.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Free marketers also applauded the sales ban lift,\u00a0and Musk\u2019s defiance of Alameda County\u2019s shutdown order has warmed conservatives&#8217; heart, too. In this month\u2019s earnings call with investors, he condemned\u00a0California&#8217;s\u00a0shutdown orders as \u201cfascist\u201d and said \u201cit\u2019s breaking people\u2019s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong and not why they came to America or built this country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page applauded Tesla\u2019s move this week:\u00a0\u201cYou can understand Mr. Musk\u2019s frustration when Alameda County officials have allowed pot shops to stay open while shuttering his Tesla plant though the company has developed protocols to protect workers. Other governors including Michigan\u2019s Gretchen Whitmer have given the green light to auto plants run by Tesla\u2019s competitors.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Musk&#8217;s resistance has inspired businesses across the country in the shutdown reports\u00a0the Associated Press. A &#8220;Stand with Tesla Freedom Rally&#8221; was organized for Fremont, California, Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">There were no signs of resistance at the Clarkston\u00a0service center, however, as service members diligently worked through their caseload of EVs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Tesla\u2019s California pushback \u2014\u00a0and push into Michigan \u2014 come at a crucial time for the company: it has just begun\u00a0production of\u00a0its Model Y crossover which is sure to top its popular Model 3 sedan as the brand\u2019s best-selling model.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clarkston\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Tesla Inc. big top is open for business in Michigan. SUV and sedan models front the new Tesla Clarkston store. The service center is open and the showroom will follow in a few months.\u00a0(Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News) The Silicon\u00a0Valley automaker\u00a0has opened its first service center in Michigan since the state overturned its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25364"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25365,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25364\/revisions\/25365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}