DETROIT, MI - A Tesla Motors executive said the electric carmaker has no display at the 2016 North American International Auto show in Detroit this year because it is banned from having retail operations in Michigan.

"The reason we're not at Detroit this year relates to the issue here," said Diarmuid O'Connell, Tesla's vice president of business development. "We use shows to sell cars, and this is a show in Michigan."

Michigan is where Tesla cannot sell its cars out of storefronts, as it does in other states, thanks in part to legislation signed by Gov. Rick Snyder in October 2014.

At the time, Snyder and legislators sponsoring the bill, which had strong support, argued that the new law was aimed at prohibiting car dealerships in the state from dictating fees they charge customers. With the legislation, dealerships can decide whether or not to charge certain transaction fees.

"This bill does not, as some have claimed, prevent auto manufacturers from selling automobiles directly to consumers at retail in Michigan - because this is already prohibited under Michigan law," Snyder said in a letter to lawmakers that accompanies the signed bill.

But the fact that Michigan prohibits direct sales of automobiles at all does not sit well with a coalition of conservative groups called Freedom to Buy.

"We wouldn't dream of telling Apple they can't open stores in Michigan, or that they can only sell their products through Best Buy and other retailers," Dave Coffey, territory manager of the Michigan Moose Association, said in a release for the group this week. "Michigan's new car sales law just doesn't make sense in a free market."

The group, which did not respond to a call seeking comment Thursday, said it is focused on enabling more choices for consumers when purchasing cars in Michigan.

The Federal Trade Commission agrees with its sentiment. Last spring, the FTC sent a 10-page letter to State Sen. Darwin Booher, R-Evart, who was seeking comment on Senate Bill 248, which would ease direct sales of autocycles.

"FTC staff offer no opinion on whether automobile distribution through independent dealerships is superior or inferior to direct distribution by manufacturers," the letter states. "Rather, staff's principal observation is that consumers are the ones best situated to choose for themselves both the vehicles they want to buy and how they want to buy them."

Obviously, Tesla agrees. But O'Connell noted that Snyder invited a conversation on improving the law when he signed it a little more than a year ago.

"And we've been taking him up on that conversation," O'Connell said Thursday, calling the current laws "anachronistic" and "protectionist."

The governor did not respond to emailed questions seeking comment by deadline.

Michigan is not the only state where Tesla is prohibited from selling cars through retail stores. There are still about 20 states where Tesla, by law, cannot have service centers.

And O'Connell concurred that there are other factors that drove the company's decision not to exhibit at NAIAS. Jaguar-Land Rover, Bentley and Mini are also not at the 2016 show.

But he said the state's legislation is "absolutely" the main reason for Tesla's absence.

"If we can't sell cars here then why would we be marketing cars here? You know, it's many factors but it relates specifically to that.

The company had no display at the 2015 Los Angeles Auto Show in its home state, but O'Connell said it plans to be at auto shows in Frankfurt and Geneva this year.

In the meantime, he said Michigan is missing out on more investment from the company.

"We want have multiple sales points and multiple service points (in Michigan)," he said. "We just bought Riviera Tool and Die, it's now Tesla Tool and Die in Grand Rapids. We have an expanding economic footprint on this state and we want to invest more but we can't even do business here. It's crazy."

David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.