Of the US government's 585-word response, just 61 of those words were dedicated to addressing the petition's request: for the US government to "allow Tesla Motors to sell directly to consumers in all 50 states." The rest of the response written by Utech focused on the Obama Administration's work in lowering vehicle emissions and supporting companies like Tesla (indeed, including Tesla) with loans.

Here's the petition in full. It's pretty straightforward:

"Allow Tesla Motors to sell directly to consumers in all 50 states



States should not be allowed to prevent Tesla Motors from selling cars directly to customers. The state legislators are trying to unfairly protect automobile dealers in their states from competition. Tesla is providing competition, which is good for consumers."

As Jalopnik points out, the response Utech issued is technically accurate in that the US Congress must first introduce and pass a bill allowing Tesla operate direct-to-consumer dealerships before President Barack Obama could sign such a bill into law. At the same time, Utech makes no effort to rally such an idea.

Tesla's response, given to Jalopnik, is even more critical than our take. This is from corporate and business development VP, Diarmuid O'Connell: