Tesla skirts Connecticut direct-sales ban with store in tribal casino

Tesla is still battling direct-income limits in some jurisdictions, about ten years after opening its first company-owned stores. By locating a retail location within a Native American casino in Connecticut, it is effectively avoiding only one such ban.

According to a Connecticut Mirror report, the Mohegan Solar casino announced on Wednesday that Tesla will open a “profits and shipping and delivery centre” at the casino’s mall, allowing customers to purchase or pick up Tesla electrical cars and trucks as early as this autumn and test drive vehicles.

Tesla already have a leasing-friendly showroom in Milford, Connecticut, but this location enables the company to offer much more without running afoul of conditionalities.

Connecticut is one of many states with franchise laws that prevent automakers from providing vehicles to customers immediately. However, Mohegan Sunshine is on Mohegan tribal land and may be found near the village of Uncasville in the southeast of the state. The research noted that tribes have the freedom to adopt different rules to improve financial development.

This method has at least been applied once before by Tesla. The automaker avoided a run-in with the franchise restrictions of that state by setting up operations in Nambé Pueblo, north of Santa Fe, in 2021. Additionally, it presents an opportunity for Lucid and Rivian, as both automakers seem to be setting up their own retail networks for quick gross sales.

Multiple bills to open up direct revenue have been filed in the state legislature, and Tesla has long fought against franchise limitations in Connecticut. The Connecticut Mirror reported that this year another bill failed to receive a hearing before the transport committee after failing to receive a hearing in either chamber of the state last year.

Franchise regulations have created a more uncomfortable situation in one more state. Despite being the only automaker wholly dependent on Texas, Tesla is still unable to sell its vehicles there directly.

This challenging environment is perhaps just one of the reasons that Polestar chooses to remain with instant sales but relies heavily on Volvo stores for a large portion of its provider network, and that Volvo chose not to embrace direct revenue as rapidly as it originally expected to. And this is the reason Ford chose a hybrid strategy that mandates no-haggle EV pricing at dealerships.

A curious division by political party has resulted from the dispute over direct sales, with Democratic-leaning states generally allowing for more general freedom and Republican-leaning states typically being much more protectionist and anti-totally free-sector regarding immediate income.