Illinois car dealers sued electric truck maker Rivian in another salvo against upstart vehicle manufacturers’ direct-to-consumer sales model.
Two trade groups that are plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed yesterday in Cook County Circuit Court say they acted after the Illinois Secretary of State’s office “turned a blind eye” to their complaints over several years.
Amazon-backed Rivian, which plans production at a plant near Normal, Ill., had no immediate comment. The Irvine, Calif.-based company has promised that deliveries of its first pickup will begin in June.
Another defendant is Lucid Motors, a California-based electric-vehicle company.
The two companies are opening showrooms in Chicago and Oak Brook, Ill., according to the lawsuit, whose plaintiffs include the Illinois Automobile Dealers Association and the Chicago Automobile Trade Association.
Conflict between manufacturers and dealers has been brewing nationwide since the earliest days of Tesla Inc., which doesn’t sell its electric cars through independent dealers.
In Illinois, Tesla was granted a license to sell cars directly “from a small number of locations,” according to the plaintiffs, which agreed to a settlement “only if the Secretary of State vowed to strictly enforce the law going forward.”
The car dealers are basing their argument in part on the economic impact provided by 700 dealers operating 2,300 franchises and employing 42,000 people across the state.