At first I thought this was a brilliant idea. Fight the stupid laws of the past; I'm on board.<p>However, as a casual follower, I haven't been convinced the problem is that big. Does a franchisee add a large markup? More that Tesla would already assume by opening their own stores? Maybe they want to control the customer experience?<p>Personally, I'd be happy to be a franchisee and only charge $100 per car sold. Because I believe these cars sell themselves. No negotiations, everyone pays MSRP seems to be the Tesla model and, I like that. I won't need a hoard of sales staff. Tesla can dictate/measure my customer service practices.<p>I won't carry a big inventory, I'd probably do setups similar to the Tesla shop in the Houston Galleria. Only a few models so people can see and feel the car, do test drives, then the order is placed with the factory. This is the part that is broken with the car industry. Dealers pre-order inventory then try to sell you the stuff they have on the lot. They all have "build your car" tools on the website, but consumers rarely get the opportunity to buy exactly the car they want.<p>I might not know the full scope of what is required of an auto franchisee. The costs and what-not. But, if Tesla where to give me a market and the rules which to operate. I'd gladly partner with them and provide a high level service at a negligible middle-man fee. I think many other people would too.<p>So why does this need so much disrupting? I'm starting to think, because there is an opportunity to disrupt is the right answer. This topic is generating a lot of buzz. Politicians are talking about it. Just look at the headline of this post, seriously... Tesla is pushing this to be a presidential candidate talking point? That type of PR would be priceless.