I love this story: How Tesla plans to short circuit new-car dealers, which details how Elon Musk and co are looking to bypass traditional car dealerships. Instead, the electric car company is building Apple-inspired showrooms that don’t actually sell vehicles but will instead offer a swanky venue for potential buyers to take a look around, hassle-free. When they are ready to pull the trigger, they get to buy the car directly from the factory, via an online form. So far so ho hum: What I really, really love about this story is the final comment from Leonard Bellavia, an attorney who specializes in auto dealer laws. ”They’re a niche player,” says Bellavia of Tesla. “If they were a mainstream manufacturer designed to compete with Ford, Chrysler or Toyota — they would be the object of a lot of objection by the dealers.” At which point my ears prick up and I think to myself “do you *hear* yourself?” It’s almost like a case study about how the car industry and its utterly out-moded ecosystem was disrupted being written in real time. Which is utterly fabulous, of course.

[Image c/o Tesla; Story via Ryan Jacoby]

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