Tesla dealer fight battles continue: success in GA, failure in WV

With the assent of Georgia dealers and the Georgia Senate, Tesla can sell cars in The Peach State at five of its own stores. That brings to 22 the number of states where Tesla has a legal storefront foothold, either through stores where it can employ its direct-sales model or galleries where sales communication is regulated. In Georgia where there are restrictions on the number of stores it can operate, but the number was raised to five, up from three.

The bad news: West Virginia rejected Tesla's advances and put the kibosh on any manufacturer making any moves to sell cars or even display with intent to sell except through franchised dealers. That effort could have been poisoned by lobbyist wrangling that tried to insert a provision to a Senate-approved bill that would let any manufacturer open a maximum of five stores, not just Tesla. It's likely that Musk & Co. will be back for another crack at that one, since a beachhead in the small and centrally-located WV would give it easy access to a number of surrounding states.