Design Refine Be Mine

Efforts to expand Tesla Motors sales were dealt a blow this week when New Jersey officials decided to ban the premium electric car manufacturer from selling directly to consumers.

Tesla is now forced to sell through independent franchise dealerships like mainstream automakers, essentially barring all sales in the state for now. But the loss or benefit to consumers has been lost in finger-pointing between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the administration of Gov. Chris Christie.

The bulk of new car sales in the United States go through independently owned dealerships, which act as a middle man between the big manufacturers and the consumer. Most states have regulations restricting direct sales, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), though New Jersey is now one of the few that ban the practice outright.

The relatively tiny Tesla pursued a different model. Tesla "stores" are small, sometimes fitting inside a shopping mall, with only a handful of cars. Buyers order their cars direct from the factory and have maintenance performed at regional service centers. The strategy keeps overhead costs down for Tesla. But as Karl Brauer of Kelley Blue Book explained, it is not necessarily a benefit to the consumer.

"The current franchise system helps maintain consistent selling practices for dealers while it contributes to the local economies, so there are definite upsides to the franchise system," he told ABC News.

"However, a direct-to-buyer system would allow manufacturers greater control over the entire process while making it more efficient, meaning automakers wouldn't just design, engineer and price the cars but also control the sales atmosphere and the specific transaction pricing," Brauer added.

In theory this could reduce sticker prices Promo Codes vehicles, Brauer noted, but it is equally likely a manufacturer would simply pocket the difference.

"Neither system is necessarily better than the other. They just have different upsides and downsides," he said.

RELATED: Christie's Tesla Problem - How it Could Impact 2016 Race

For roughly a year, Tesla has operated two stores in New Jersey that will likely be forced to close when the decision takes effect April 1. Company officials raged against the ruling and in a blog post accused Christie, whose office is under a high-profile investigation for alleged abuses of power, of using his state's Motor Vehicle Commission as another political cudgel and yielding to the powerful car dealers lobby in the Garden State. Tesla also accused the administration of reneging on a previous agreement to delay the ruling until the state legislature could address the debate publicly.

Christie's office has largely distanced itself from the issue, however, only stating that Tesla saw the decision coming and motor vehicle officials were strengthening existing law.

Neither Tesla nor Gov. Christie's office responded to requests for comment by ABC News.

But the leader of the car dealers lobby said the debate is not purely about protecting auto dealers' livelihoods, but consumer protection as well.

Jim Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, said in an interview with ABC News that warranty and safety recall issues would place manufacturer-owned lots in a conflict of interest.

"The fox is in charge of the chicken coop [in a direct-to-buyer model]. The manufacturers sees a warranty as headache and expense, while a retailer sees the warranty and safety recall claims as an opportunity," he said, pointing out that since dealers gets paid by manufacturers to service warranties and recalls they have a natural incentive to report them.

RELATED: GM Rebuts Claim that 303 People Died in Recalled Cars

Appleton pointed to the recent scandal involving General Motors recalls as evidence that manufacturers could not be trusted to run large lots. As for the potential savings from the distribution model, he argued that even if Tesla or other manufacturers attempted to lower sticker prices, the difference would be negligible.

"They talk about eliminating the middle man but they don't eliminate the middle cost," he said. "They have the expense of employees, the expense of advertising. The cost of retailing is the cost of retailing."

New Jersey is a booming luxury car market and its Newark-Elizabeth seaport, the largest in the US, imported and exported up to 700,000 vehicles in 2012, according to the Port Authority.

So where do the big manufacturers, who also hold a big interest in this debate, stand? They've been relatively mum. Kelley Blue Book's Brauer said it's because for them, this fight is a win-win scenario.

"If Tesla is successful at changing these laws, it will encourage the big automakers to consider following Tesla's lead," Brauer said. "Of course, the dealers, the NADA and their lobbyists all know this, which is why they will fight to keep the current laws in place. If Tesla is forced to follow conventional retailing practices, which means using a local dealer to sell its cars, that will cut into Tesla's control and cost structure, making it more difficult for the fledgling automaker to succeed. In either scenario there's an upside for conventional automakers, so this is really a no-lose situation of them. They can just sit back and enjoy the show."

The split between Tesla's popularity and the entrenched dealership model means neither side may win outright, however.

"It would take a lot of time and a lot of dedicated money from Tesla to break through that system, and I don't see Tesla expending those resources," Brauer added. "We'll likely see a compromise situation where Tesla will get some very limited latitude to continue operating the stores [Musk has] already opened while also requiring him to work with NADA on future stores."

<Best Dealsp>The ruling National Conference (NC) and the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir have forged an electoral alliance for the Lok Sabha polls. A formal announcement is likely to be made on Saturday.

While the NC will be contesting from all the three seats in the valley, the Congress will take on the BJP in the two seats in Jammu and one in Ladakh.

"Yes, we have formed a pre-poll alliance," state Congress chief Saifuddin Soz told HT, adding that the decision was taken in a meeting held by the high command in Delhi.

The meeting, headed by Sonia Gandhi, was attended by Union ministers Ambika Soni, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmad Patel and M L Fotedar, among others.

While the NC has repeated Farooq Abdullah from Srinagar, Mehboob Beg from Anantnag and Sharief Din Shariq from Baramulla, the Congress is likely to repeat Madan Lal Sharma from Jammu and Chowdhary Lal Singh from Udhampur.

Also, a Congress candidate will contest from the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat with the support of the NC. That will split the six Lok Sabha seats from the state equally between the two alliance partners.

While National conference wanted an alliance due to the inroads made by the PDP and the BJP in the Valley and in Jammu, respectively, a certain section of the Congress leaders wanted to contest from the Valley as well.

"We should have gotten at least one seat in the Valley, the Jammu region seats seem difficult as the BJP is very strong there,'' one of the Congress leaders said on condition of anonymity. Sources said state Congress leaders wanted to contest from two Jammu seats and from Baramulla in the valley.

bjd ties up with jmm

Though Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik had refused tie-up with Left parties for 2014 polls, he has entered into a seat sharing agreement with a relatively smaller party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).

Patnaik announced the arrangement on Friday after meeting JMM's Odisha president Sudam Marandi.

JMM has a presence in two tribal districts of Odisha, Mayurbhanj and Sundergarh, which together have 16 assembly and two Lok Sabha seats.

"The alliance with the Biju Janata Dal will help us ushering in development in both the backward districts," Marandi said.

BJD vice president and panchayati raj minister Kalpataru Das said both the parties would be working out seat adjustment in few constituencies of both the districts.

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<Discountp>I'm not exactly sure what the occasion is, but there's a pretty crazy number of high profile iOS games on sale at the moment. Well, I guess being the App Store and all, you don't really need a reason to have a sale. Still, something seems up with all these games going on sale today of all days. Perhaps an Apple feature or something? Whatever the case, if you've been waiting to pick any or all of these title up, now is a good time to do so.

If you spot any other noteworthy sales, feel free to fire off in the comments and let everyone know.

Update 2/3: New coupon! Get the Digital Imperial Edition for $64 after using Super Sale: PH4V4F-33PTVI-5HXNWG - the Standard Edition without Imperial race is $48 after coupon.

Yesterday's big scoop from Bethesda was the announced details of the "Imperial Edition" to the upcoming MMO Elder Scrolls Online. Shortly after the news, several PC digital retailers slotted up on the digital shelves Standard and Imperial Editions for preorder. Not only do the preorders come with preorder bonus incentives, but there's also a 20% (update: now 25% off) coupon code slashing a huge chunk out of the listed price.

Accordingly, The Elder Scrolls Online Imperial Edition drops to $64.00 $60 from $80, while the Standard Edition drops to $48 $45 from the $60 list price. Since the announcement, the Imperial Edition preorders has been outselling the Standard by a significant margin. This may have to do with what's included in each editions. Judge for yourself below:

The Elder Scrolls Online: Digital Imperial Edition (PC Download) - $60 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. List is $80. The official release will be April 4th, 2014. In addition to the discount, the Imperial Edition includes:

• 5 day early access (begins March 30th)
• 30 days of included game time
• "Explorer Pack" DLC, which is actually 3 bonuses in one, allowing you to play any race in any Alliance (except Imperial), bonus treasure maps, and a Scuttler vanity pet
• Ability to play the Imperial race
• Ability to craft Imperial equipment
• Ability to transform into Imperial equipment
• Rings of Mara (quest)
• Mudcrab vanity pet

The Elder Scrolls Online (PC Download) - $45 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. List is $60. The official release will be April 4th, 2014. In addition to the discount, the Standard Edition includes:

• 3 day early access (begins April 1st)
• 30 days of included game time
• "Explorer Pack" DLC, which will allow you to play any race in any Alliance (except Imperial). The Explorer Pack also includes bonus treasure maps and a Scuttler vanity pet.

In other gaming deal news this week, there are quite a few good PC gaming deals, especially with GameFly's 25% off coupon (GFDJAN25) on select Ubisoft titles. The FPS PC shooter finally made its way to Steam on January 28th. The game still carries its $4.50 off preorder bonus at GameFly, and you can use the previously mentioned coupon to drop the price to $7.87 - nearly half off the game's $14.99 list price.

NewEgg has an instant savings + coupon code discount for Borderlands 2, dropping the hit 2012 title to only $5.39, a new low price for the game. Lastly, GameFly's running an " Ubisoft Hits " sale on five Ubisoft titles. All are at or near their all time lows, including Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag for only $22.50 - a new low by $7.50.

More Hot Deals

Ubisoft Hits - up to 75% off instantly at GameFly and up to 80% off after coupon. All the titles below are at or near their all-time lows.

Tuesday's release: Rekoil (PC Download) - $7.87 at GameFly after coupon. List is $15.

Borderlands 2 (PC Download) - $5.39 at NewEgg after coupon. List is $20.

Upcoming Releases

Feb. 20: Men of War: Assault Squad 2 (PC Download) - $22.40 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. List is $40.

Feb. 25: Thief (PC Download) - $31.50 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. List is $50. GMG's 30% off coupon for this title ends tomorrow, January 31st at 8AM Pacific.

Feb. 27: Resident Evil 4 HD (PC Download) - $14.99 at GameFly after coupon. List is $20. Preorders also get a 60+ track digital music album and a 80+ page digital archive.

Mar. 18: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4, Xbox One) - $35.99 at NewEgg after coupon. List is $40. This is the first Metal Gear Solid title to offer open world gameplay with a new FOX game engine.

Mar. 18: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (Xbox 360, PS3) - $26.99 at NewEgg after coupon. List is $30. A little less expensive than its next gen big brother release. It's a wonder how long Sony and Microsoft will roll out new titles for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Summer 2014: Alien: Isolation (PC Download) - $37.49 at GameFly after coupon. List is $50.

Gaming Capable Laptop Discounts

Alienware 18 Haswell Core i7-4700MQ, Full HD 1080p, Dual GeForce GTX 765M SLI, 8GB RAM - $1,949 at Dell Home after coupon. List is $2,099.

Alienware 17 Haswell Core i7-4700MQ, Full HD 1080p, GeForce GTX 770M 3GB, 16GB RAM (Refurbished) - $1,458.99 at eBay. List is $1,999.

Razer Blade 14-inch Gaming Laptop, Core i7-4702HQ, GeForce GTX 765M, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD - $1,799 at Microsoft. List is $1,999.

Lenovo IdeaPad Y410p 59405095 Core i7-4700MQ, GeForce GT 755M 2GB, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD + 8GB SSD - $799 at Lenovo after coupon. List is $1,279.

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Today marks the Year of the Horse in the chinese new year cards calendar. Before you feast on the celebratory delicacies Las Vegas has to offer TravelsinTaste suggests several unique ways to ring in the new year.

You can take in some culture by checking out the dynamic and colorful lion dances which will commemorate the Year of the Horse at Bellagio, ARIA, The Shops at Crystals and MGM Grand. Yau Kung Moon will perform the Chinese lion dances in a traditional Southern Shaolin Kung Fu system, a collection of martial arts with more than 1,000 years of history. Yau Kung Moon, which translates to "Style of Flexible Power," is one of the world's most respected martial arts, dragon and lion dance organizations. Known for its trademark gold uniforms and innovative routines, Yau Kung Moon has been recognized internationally for being the first U.S. team to compete in the 1990 Invitational World Lion Dance Festival in Malaysia.

Alternatively, you can visit Bellagio's Conservatory & Botanical Gardens which has ushered in the new year with a display featuring seven life-size horses parading atop a three-tier mountain with a majestic gold stallion at the peak; the total number of eight represents good fortune in Chinese culture. At the entrance an 18-foot-tall custom-made Chinese money tree symbolizes prosperity, good fortune and nobility. The lucky tree flourishes with 384 oversized gold-leafed coins on its branches as mounds of I-Ching coins, a traditional Chinese symbol for money, surround its base.

Then there's always shopping. The Shops at Crystals in Las Vegas offers Lunar New Year revelers glamorous ways to ring in the new year. "Chinese New Year is an important holiday for our retailers, and many of our brands, such as Lalique and BVLGARI, have created limited specialty pieces in honor of the Year of the Horse," said Farid Matraki, Vice President and General Manager of Crystals. "We enjoy creating an unique experience for all of our customers. In the case of our Chinese shoppers, they will discover that many of our retailers accept China Union debit and credit cards, as well as our concierge desk. In addition, our tenants also have in-house representatives that speak Mandarin and other dialects." Crystals recently welcomed famed crystal designer Lalique to its repertoire, marking the house's first standalone Las Vegas location. The animal kingdom served as founder René Lalique's main source of inspiration, and the brand brings the nature of the horse to life with The Equestrian Collection. The series pays tribute to the creature's varied poses and graceful movements through stunning vases and sculptures. Furthermore, Crystals recently became home to the world's largest Tourbillon boutique, which offers one of the only wristwatches equipped with a traditional Chinese calendar. The Calendrier Chinois Traditionnel watch by Blancpain is based on the fundamental principles established for millennia and is profoundly rooted in Chinese tradition.

After the excitement one can partake in a holiday feast at some of The Strip's hottest Chinese restaurants. At Rice & Co., in Luxor, one can start with Pan Fried Pot Stickers: dumplings filled with pork and vegetables and served with a ginger soy sauce. Then continue with a choice between House Mixed Greens or Egg Drop Soup. Next Next one can savor Kung Pao Chicken, stir fried with celery, bell pepper, onion and roasted peanuts. Guests will cap off the meal with exotic fruits and berries. "At Rice & Co., we have created modern interpretations of Chinese favorites such as Beef and Broccoli and Garlic Shrimp, using only the freshest and highest quality ingredients available," said Rice & Co. Executive Chef Ray Kwong. "The holiday is a very important and exciting day in the Chinese culture and we look forward to showcasing our finely prepared menu items to Las Vegas guests and visitors."

Meanwhile Jasmine at Bellagio presents its "Kung Hei Fat Choy" menu, offering luxurious twists to celebratory Chinese New Year dishes. Vegas high-rollers can enjoy the Braised Abalone, created with sea cucumber, goose web, golden oyster, mushrooms and sea moss. The Panfried "Wagyu" Strip Loin, seasoned with black pepper and garlic, is sure to become a new holiday tradition. "Bellagio's restaurants offer traditional Chinese New Year offerings while also implementing luxurious twists," said Bellagio Executive Chef Edmund Wong. "An incredible meal at Jasmine or Noodles, paired with the festive Lion Dances and stunning Conservatory décor, will truly create a fun and memorable experience for our guests."

Enjoy and most importantly, Happy New Year.

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