A new bill in the Texas Senate has Tesla owners concerned it could prevent the company from servicing its own cars in the state, and the company is now in talks with legislators about what it sees as a "targeted attack."

Dallas-Fort Worth is home to two of Texas' six Tesla service centers, which some fear would be banned by the bill from servicing electric vehicles beginning Sept. 1. In a statement Tuesday, the company said language in S.B. 1415 added "servicing" and "repairing" to the definition of dealership activity – which would be prohibited for manufacturers.

"The result would be to threaten Tesla's maintenance facilities in Texas and leave Tesla drivers with very little recourse in terms of keeping their vehicles running safely in the state," the company said of the bill.

State Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, told The Dallas Morning News Tuesday that the code the bill would amend has long been on the books. He said that after reaching out to the Department of Motor Vehicles, his office determined that Tesla was actually in violation of existing law.

If you've ever seen one of Tesla's Apple-like showrooms inside Texas' malls and shopping centers, you've likely noticed one thing: You already can't buy the cars here. Tesla's vehicles have to be shipped from other states to Texas when customers buy them, and plenty do, because of laws in Texas that prohibit them from selling directly.

Refusing to sell through third-party dealerships like traditional carmakers, Tesla has argued for years that it needs to directly sell its electric cars because dealerships wouldn't educate the public on the benefits and requirements surrounding the technology. Instead, it's sold them online to customers.

The car dealership lobby has argued that franchised dealerships benefit consumers when it comes to service repairs and the costs of purchasing vehicles.

Hancock said his legislation is intended to "reduce over-regulation of vehicle manufacturers in Texas."

"SB 1415 won't impact how cars from any manufacturer are serviced and repaired," he said in a statement, adding that reports otherwise were "the definition of fake news." The statement did not specifically mention Tesla.

Tesla said its representatives have met with Hancock's staff about the language and even suggested ways to improve it that made it less threatening to the company. Asked whether he would be working with Tesla to make those changes, Hancock described communication from the company over the weekend as an attack on his office.

Although almost every state has laws on the books that prevent manufacturers from directly selling their vehicles to customers, Texas' have been described by some as the most "anti-Tesla" in the country.

North Texas residents registered nearly 3,000 new Tesla vehicles in 2018, according to Freeman Publishers Inc., which tracks sales in Dallas, Collin, Denton and Tarrant counties. Tesla opened its fifth North Texas showroom inside Galleria Dallas in January.