Bill to ban Tesla, Lucid, Rivian direct sales dies in Michigan Senate

Tesla, Lucid and Rivian can each breathe a sigh of relief as Michigan House Bill 6233 effectively died in the Michigan Senate in the final weeks of legislating. A Lucid spokesperson on Monday revealed to Roadshow the state Senate decided this past Friday not to take up the bill before its recess. There are no plans to address HB 6233, either, according to the spokesperson.

“Lucid Motors is pleased that HB 6233 failed after the Michigan Senate ended its session without taking action on the bill,” the company said in a statement. “The legislation passed by the Michigan House of Representatives was anticompetitive and undermined consumers’ access to different products and consistent, dependable automotive service. These legislative efforts — and similar efforts in other states — are clearly driven by special interests, not consumers, as nearly 70% of all EVs sold in Michigan in 2019 were sold directly to consumers.”

The last movement we saw from HB 6233 was in the Senate Regulatory Reform Committee. The state Senate’s Fiscal Agency said in a review on Dec. 8 the “bill would have a negligible fiscal impact” on state and local government.

Although this particular bill is dead, Lucid said it expects the Michigan legislature will once again take a crack at this issue in its next session, but it remained confident “that state leaders will make the right decisions for their constituents and to encourage economic growth.”

Rivian did not immediately return a request for comment. Tesla does not operate a public relations department to field requests for comment.

The bill included a couple twists as it moved through the Michigan House this year. Introduced in September, it aimed to block other startup automakers like Rivian and Lucid from selling their vehicles direct to consumers, as Tesla does in Michigan via an agreement between the state and the automaker. At the start of this month, however, the house struck language from the bill that initially protected Tesla’s agreement made back in January of this year. Suddenly, each startup had something to lose as lawmakers looked to strengthen dealer franchises in the state. 

Things will remain as they are for now and Lucid said it doesn’t plan to back down from investments in the state. 

“We did not slow our efforts to establish a strong presence in the state of Michigan,” the company said in a statement. “This includes a service center in Coldwater that is near opening with additional retail and service locations planned in the future.”