White House Responds To Tesla Direct-Sales Petition: Sorry, Talk To Congress

Fully a year ago, a Tesla supporter started a petition on WhiteHouse.gov asking president Barack Obama to let Tesla Motors sell its electric cars directly to consumers in all 50 states.

While it got the necessary 100,000 signatures, it has taken the White House a year to respond--and its answer is a polite apology for not being able to intervene.

DON'T MISS: Petition For Tesla Motors Direct Sales Crosses 100,000 Signatures (July 2013)

In essence, the response notes that auto sales are traditionally regulated by individual states, and preempting the many different laws that prohibit direct sales by automakers to customers would require Congress to act.

Of its 10 paragraphs in the response, exactly two sentences actually address the reasons for rejecting the petition.

The first: "As you know, laws regulating auto sales are issues that have traditionally sat with lawmakers at the state level." And the second: "We understand that pre-empting current state laws on direct-to-consumer auto sales would require an act of Congress."

The rest of the post is a summary (with links) of what the Obama Administration has done to improve fuel efficiency in new vehicles, spur innovation in vehicle powertrain technology, and reduce carbon emissions to address climate change.

ALSO SEE: Auto Dealers Try Charm: Why Tesla Direct Sales Hurt Buyers, They Say (Video)

The White House response is attributed to Dan Utech, who's listed as a special assistant to the president for energy and climate change.

Protecting non-existent franchisees

Tesla has been fighting efforts in many states to rewrite auto-dealer franchising laws so that they prohibit any direct sales by any carmaker to any buyer.