TRENTON — When his appointees at the Motor Vehicle Commission banned Tesla Motors from selling its electric cars at New Jersey stores, Gov. Chris Christie said his administration was merely enforcing a decades-old state law and that it was up to the state Legislature to change it.

Today, an Assembly panel took him up on that challenge.

A month and a half after Tesla was forced to halt direct sales at its two stores in Short Hills and Paramus, the state Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee approved a bill (A3216) that would allow it to restart the sales — and open two more stores.

The vote was 4-0.

The bill would allow Tesla, or any company that sells zero-emission vehicles directly to consumers, to open up to four stores in the Garden State. The companies would also be required to have at least one facility that services the vehicles.

Although it had previously allowed Tesla to sell the cars, the Motor Vehicle Commission justified stopping it because of a state law from the 1970s that requires cars to be sold through dealerships. Tesla officials said that sales model does not work for their product because dealerships make much of their money from maintenance, and Teslas — which currently start at $70,000 — require far less maintenance than traditional cars.

Diarmuid O'Connell, Tesla’s vice president of business development, told the committee that the company’s direct-to-customer sales model “fundamentally aligns with Tesla’s core strategy.”

“This is a super important issue for us in New Jersey, and as some of you would know, nationally as well,” O'Connell said, adding the bill would “allow us to in a modest way and a reasonable way conduct the business of educating the public about electric vehicles and getting as many of those vehicles on the road as quickly as possible.”

O’Connell said the company is working on a new model that would start at $35,000.

“New Jersey prides itself as being pro-business, pro-innovative and pro-jobs. And this is a company that is an American company, an American idea,” said Assemblyman Tim Eustace (D-Bergen), a sponsor, “I think we would be mistaken if we didn’t’ reverse the idea that the MVC made, making it illegal to sell Teslas in New Jersey.”

Nobody testified against the legislation. Amy Brink, director of state affairs and franchise counsel for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, called for amendments to better protect the dealer “status quo” and said the bill should no longer apply to zero-emission vehicle manufacturers if they’ve been sold to another company.

Jim Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, did not testify but offered a statement after the committee approved the bill in which he argued Tesla should eventually be required to adopt the dealership model.

"No one wants to see Tesla out-of-business in New Jersey and NJCAR is committed to working with members of the Legislature who are exploring options that would allow a start-up electric car maker, like Tesla, a reasonable period of time to ramp up operations (or sales volume) before they conform their business operations to the franchise model," Appleton said.

State Sen. Brian Rumpf (R-Ocean), who voted in favor of the bill, said he was concerned it could hurt traditional dealerships if Tesla eventually becomes a major industry player.

“Should there be some kind of time limitations within the bill or are we setting the stage for a situation where the historic dealership model is going to be hurt 10, 20 years up the road?” he said.

Supporters of the bill countered that it limits Tesla to just four stores and that such questions can be addressed if and when it becomes a major competitor to traditional cars.

“Henry Ford did not start with dealerships,” Eustace said. “As the company grows, they may need to change their business model. This business model is for right now.”

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