Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

August 26, 2021

Hoffman Auto Group files second lawsuit to block Tesla’s planned E. Hartford service center

Photo | Flickr/Austin Kirk A Tesla Supercharger.
By Zachary Vasile

The feud between electric car manufacturer Tesla and Hoffman Auto Group over the electric car maker’s planned East Hartford service station escalated further this week, as Hoffman again sued Tesla, East Hartford and the town’s planning and zoning commission.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Hartford Superior Court, accuses Tesla of camouflaging what Hoffman says is the company’s true intent — to sell cars directly to consumers in violation of state law — by filing vague applications with the town and misleadingly stating that it only wants to operate an automotive service center.

In Connecticut, car manufacturers cannot sell their products directly to customers without a dealer as an intermediary. This ordinance — known as the dealer franchise law — essentially bars Tesla, which only uses a direct-to-consumer sales approach, from establishing a presence in Connecticut beyond opening galleries and service centers, which it has done in Greenwich and Milford.

Hoffman’s lawsuit points out that site plans for Tesla’s planned East Hartford location include space for the delivery and indoor storage of new and pre-owned vehicles, which the dealer said would not be needed to operate only a service station.

Also at issue is Tesla’s use of an LLC to file its applications, a move the lawsuit contends was made in an attempt to circumvent regulation.

Hoffman is asking that the East Hartford Planning and Zoning Commission’s approval of the center be set aside, as the commissioners relied on “false, deceptive and inaccurate information provided by the applicant.”

“We will continue to resist global manufacturers from illegally entering our state in a way that would deprive local consumers of many of the protections they currently enjoy,” Hoffman Auto Group said in a statement. “It’s one thing to be seduced by the Tesla mystique but it’s quite another to be stuck with a $75,000 Tesla lemon and no one to talk to but a California email address.”

Tesla’s public relations department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new lawsuit.

Tesla in April won preliminary approval to open a showroom and service center at 300 Connecticut Blvd. in East Hartford, prompting Hoffman’s first lawsuit. The Planning and Zoning Commission subsequently voted to revoke a special use permit for the property and approved a new one that allows Tesla to build only a service center, not a showroom.

Tesla and sympathetic lawmakers in the General Assembly have fought for years to roll back the dealer franchise law, but the legislature has never moved to repeal or modify it. The state’s car dealers, including Hoffman, have mobilized repeatedly to block Tesla’s efforts, saying customers will suffer if they do not have a dealer to turn to when they encounter problems with their vehicle.
 

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

0 Comments

Order a PDF