A Tesla Motors official has confirmed to Tech Times that the electric-car company will sue New Jersey after a court ruling that forbids the company from selling its eco-friendly vehicles in the state.
"We plan to take all necessary measures to have our cars available to consumers in New Jersey," the official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, told Tech Times on Thursday.
The move comes as Tesla and New Jersey battle over franchise agreements before the state gives a license to sell its cars. The company official said that the appeal and lawsuit will delve into issues over regulations that were imposed on the company by a state appellate division in late March.
And the Palo Alto-based company is not backing down, said the official.
"We will take full action as quickly as possible to be able to reverse the decision to prohibit Tesla from direct-sales in the state, and we will do so with as many resources as necessary."
The appeal saw the company's stock climb after it had retreated in recent days. It ended Wednesday six percent higher. On Friday, however, the stock closed down over 13 percent at $212.23.
Tesla has a policy of direct sales to customers, which has been largely successful in California and has already been established at two locations in New Jersey. But the government isn't pleased and has been what many in Silicon Valley following the electric car company's efforts, have dubbed a "crusade" against Tesla.
The controversy has largely centered on pressure from the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, a consortium of new-car dealerships in the state, which has been reluctant to allow Tesla to use its direct-sales model for fear it would hurt their business and lead to other car manufacturers following a similar model.
"That is a ridiculous assumption because the larger auto companies have too many vehicles they want to move to go it alone. They need the dealerships in order to sell as many cars as possible. We simply don't move that many vehicles at the present moment to need to go through private dealers," the official said in an attempt to allay fears that Tesla would inflict monetary damage on dealers in the state.
The company has reiterated this sentiment, saying that a franchise agreement as being pushed in New Jersey would not be in the company's best interest.
"Franchise dealers have an inherent conflict of interest in selling electric vehicles," Tesla's filing says. "In order to do so effectively, they would need to enthusiastically tout the reasons why electric vehicles are superior to gasoline vehicles. This is not something that they are going to do since gasoline vehicles represent virtually all of their revenue."
