California Dealers ALREADY Marking Down The New Chevy Bolt EV - What Does That Tell You?

What it shows is that the Consumer benefits from competition between dealers for the same car. This is something that Tesla does not offer - nor does it offer a choice of dealers and service departments within 5 miles of each other either. In this case it shows free market forces working in the auto industry as they should - and it clearly points to an end to the monopolistic practices of Tesla - because there will be more choices than just Tesla.

The same could be said of any brand entering the market

When Genesis requires free standing dealerships the same result will occur when there may be only 2 or 3 in a city of over a million people.

Either the Bolt is a dud despite being hyped up as North America Car of The Year, or it's an EV dilemma all ICE cars manufactures face but hate to admit. Or BOTH.

Or even the tree huggers in Cali are buying SUVs due to cheap gas.

Stopped by yesterday to get a carwash (don't buy gas) and premium was over $3.50 here, that's not cheap. Summer travel/change over to summer mix are just around the corner.

Did I read TomM's comments correctly? He thinks the consumer benefits by having an extra layer of mark-up in the form of a dealer between himself and the manufacturer?

Tesla sells direct, and faces plenty of competition from other car companies (though these competitors are admittedly hamstrung by the fact that they sell via an outdated, bloated business model).

Dear Carlos - Selling direct does not offer any advantage to the consumer when there is NO competition and no price negotiation. Tesla is attempting to hold ALL the cards - including service as well (No access to the computers even to the OWNERS of the cars) - that is the definition of a "Trust" - which is not good. The model of having independent dealers - who even compete with each other - offers a chance for a consumer to benefit from that competition. If all manufacturers sold direct - set unchanging prices (including resale prices) and prevented competition even in service - cars would end up costing people lots more than they do now -even with a second layer of mark up. Of course - since Tesla has NEVER made a profit - we still do not know what the real price of his cars should be as well.

I am a mechanic - I would not consider a car that I cannot perform repairs on myself. I admit that there are some that should be done with special tools of a manufacturers - but I can access - with my tools - the computers from virtually every mass produced car sold in the USA (And others that I simply chose not to purchase support for) - including BMW and Mercedes. I refuse to buy a car that - when a service light comes on - MUST be returned to the dealer for them to turn it off.

@carloslassiter Are you stupid? Just because Tesla has company stores does not mean they are more consumer friendly. Quite the opposite. They price fix and cash rape the buyer. The buyer cannot get a better deal by pitting one dealer against the other.

It tells me that the strategy to prioritize (read flood) the Cali market while others, including Europe and Asia are waiting was a mistake IF GM was really serious about selling the car rather than just collecting ZEV credits

It tells you GM is paying for the markdown.