New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed a law that will allow Tesla Motors to start selling its electric vehicles again to residents of the state.
Like many states, New Jersey had laws that prohibited car manufacturers from selling directly to consumers, which goes against the traditional system of franchised dealerships.
Tesla Motors sells its vehicles directly to consumers through company-owned showrooms instead of independently owned and state-certified dealerships. So, on March 11 of last year, the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission demanded the end of such sales from Tesla, which had already sold 600 cars in the state during a year of operating two stores.
The new legislation comes with some limits. Tesla can only open a total of four direct sale dealerships and has to operate at least one service center.
Tesla might be able to resume sales in New Jersey, but it’s still banned from doing so in Virginia, Arizona, Texas and Michigan.
With this new law, @TeslaMotors can now establish direct sales operations directly to NJ consumers.
— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) March 18, 2015
