Court hears Buick dealer bid to kill Rivian service center

[Jac]

It’s a joke that the court’s even entertain these dumb cases born from mafia-like deals made between politicians and dealerships designed to create a protectionist market with artificially inflated prices. Free market be damned!

Phil, I’m not a lawyer but I read the arguments and watched the hearings live on uTube before the district court judge in this zoning variance matter. Clearly, the Buick dealer was intent on delaying Rivian’s approval to open a service center in the same city, but I recall the judge remarking at the conclusion of one hearing that this was an interesting case around the question of the Buick dealer’s standing. Rivian’s local counsel, Attorney Alan Tyma was impressive.

All in all, I think this case was addressed relatively quickly in judicial process terms. I suspect the Buick dealer incurred substantial legal expenses only to delay the service center opening by about a year.

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[RivianPioneer]

I wish I was as confident about this as you. From what I know about these age old dealership arrangements that have been made in the dark corridors of state legislatures and out of the watchful eye of the public, they are pretty stilted in favor of keeping competition out, and favor dealerships. This is all to the detriment of free market principles and hurts us, the general public, who should be able to purchase automobiles at competitive prices from any legitimate sales outlet, whether or not they are dealerships or something else. One day maybe the general public will have a say and this nonsense will stop.

 

[Stephe]

So I happened to visit this location since it had been about a year. Now marked private property and has cameras everywhere. Not sure what that will mean or if Riv found a diff building

 

[cmcintyre]

Stopped by 2 Mountain View Drive, Shelton, CT today. Electric and HVAC going in and this blueprint on the Project Engineer’s desk. Looks encouraging.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I love how random people just break into construction sites. Seriously be careful in there, lots of construction workers leave buildings in pretty dangerous conditions on occasion.

 

[cmcintyre]

I asked permission to stand outside an open door and took the other picture through a window. But you have a valid point and thanks for the advice.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I asked permission to stand outside an open door and took the other picture through a window. But you have a valid point and thanks for the advice.

Thanks for taking it in the spirit it was intended. I wasn't trying to scold you, I spent 17 years in commercial construction and I've seen some shit.

 

[inconceivable]

“Shelton and Rivian fought the lawsuit and won every ruling. The case has been extensively litigated with numerous motions filed, along with an appeal. The court gave a final ruling denying the plaintiff’s appeal on October 18th...

… Rivian has moved quickly to break ground. Originally, it had hoped to open its doors in the summer of this year. Starting around now, an optimistic time frame would be the second quarter of 2024. When we have more definitive information, we will provide an update.”

Here is the EV Club of Connecticut‘s complete article link: https://evclubct.com/rivian-ct-service-center-moving-forward/

Had mobile service come by today (I’m in Fairfield). Asked him about the timing of Shelton. He heard they were targeting 12-16 weeks from the start of construction, which appears to have started at least a few weeks ago. He didn’t know if things were still on track or not. But that would put us closer to late winter/early spring.

Obviously, take all this with the large grain of salt in deserves, but

 

[Jac]

Stopped by the Mountain View Drive service center location when I was in Shelton this morning. Lots of building contractor activity going on at Connecticut’s coming first service center.

 

[moosetags]

I am glad that Connecticut is finally getting their Service Center. It is good to sea that reason prevailed even over the objections of the traditional car dealers.

Brian

 

[Tim-in-CA]

... and in other news

https://www.autoblog.com/2023/12/20...ers-choose-buyout-over-investing-to-sell-evs/

Buick and GM are doing everything to protect their legacy stealership model.

 

[itselectric]

Ridiculous that tax payer money is wasted on this frivolous non-sense. It's frustrating because there's no legitimate case, it's anti-competitive garbage. Take care of your customers and they won't leave you.

 

[RivianPioneer]

I am glad that Connecticut is finally getting their Service Center. It is good to sea that reason prevailed even over the objections of the traditional car dealers.

Brian

Despite the corrupt arrangements created between the dealers and state legislators, justice prevails…sometimes.

 

[iforbes]

Any news on when the service center is slated to open?

 

[CTRedCanyon]

I went by today and it looks like the building is very active. There was an area dug up near the exit that looked like they were installing chargers. I also saw a telecom contractor van. Lots of activity.

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