Tesla recently sent a letter to “Tesla Owners and Enthusiasts” living in the Indiana area asking for their help to defeat a piece of legislation introduced by state lawmakers that would prevent auto manufacturers from selling cars directly to their customers. Tesla has almost exclusively sold vehicles to customers through direct vehicle sales, and it says if the bill is signed into law it would revoke Tesla’s permission to sell vehicles from its existing storefront in Indianapolis.

The bill seeks to prohibit manufacturers from holding a dealer license after December 31, 2017. Tesla currently holds such a license, although it does not contract with a third-party dealer.

In its letter to its customers, Tesla urged them to contact their representatives and the senators on the Commerce and Technology Committee, which will hold a hearing on the bill on Thursday, February 25, to express their displeasure at the new bill. "Despite having a lawfully granted license to sell Tesla vehicles directly since 2014 at the Fashion Mall at Keystone; despite contributing over $42 million to the state through the purchase of parts and components from Indiana suppliers; and despite plans underway to construct a 26,000 square foot Tesla Service facility that will employ approximately a dozen Indiana residents and serve our customers, GM is pushing the Senate Committee to shut out Tesla,” Tesla wrote.

Tesla could not provide Ars with any hard evidence that GM is the company that authored the bill.

In a phone call with Ars, Tesla spokesperson Will Nicholas said that the company had been operating its Fashion Mall storefront since December 2013 and that the company hadn’t yet broken ground on the Tesla Service Facility mentioned in the letter to customers. But the fate of that service center or others like it could be up in the air until the bill is either passed or shelved. “It’s hard for us to further invest,” until Tesla knows if it will be able to keep selling cars in the state, the spokesperson said.

GM didn’t respond to Ars’ questions about authorship of the bill or lobbying, but it sent a statement to Ars saying:

GM supports HB 1254. GM believes that all industry participants should operate under the same rules and requirements on fundamental issues that govern how we sell, service and market our products. A benefit of a nationwide network of thousands of dealerships is that General Motors customers never have to worry about driving to another state to buy, service or support their vehicles. Tesla's insistence on special rules could result in multiple manufacturers competing with similarly capable vehicles and similar price points, yet operating under a different set of rules. Tesla could open a franchised dealership with an independent operator in Indiana today, but instead they insist that the State must first provide them with unique rules and special exceptions to suit their own business interests. In fact, Tesla was willing to agree to a dealer model in Virginia. The Indiana legislature shouldn't create a special exemption for them here.

Tesla has seen considerable resistance to its business model from states like New Jersey, Texas, Arizona, and Virginia. In Virginia, Tesla reportedly considered opening a third-party dealer in Virginia but was able to open under an exception to the state’s rules.

Ars contacted the bill’s main author, Rep. Kevin Mahan (R-Indiana), but he was unavailable for comment.

Last month, Tesla's lead lawyer appeared at a panel hosted by the Federal Trade Commission to defend the practice of selling cars directly to consumers, arguing that the dealership model wouldn't make sense for Tesla because dealers couldn't make money reselling Teslas unless they offered extra services like financing and maintenance. Auto industry analyst Maryann Keller rebutted Tesla's arguments, saying that a dealership model promotes "intrabrand competition," which lowers car prices for customers.

The beef between GM and Tesla also seems to be heating up since Chevrolet launched its latest all-electric Bolt, which is priced competitively with Tesla's forthcoming Model 3. The Bolt has a 200-mile range and will be priced under $30,000, something Tesla has long proclaimed the marker of true success for an electric vehicle manufacturer. GM also operates several manufacturing facilities in Indiana, according to Electrek, and it could have the political muscle to get such a bill through the state's legislative process.