Need another sign that Tesla is growing into a force to be reckoned with? Bloomberg reports it has just snagged high-profile communications boss Simon Sproule from Renault-Nissan to become the EV maker's vice president of communications and marketing.

Sproule is an industry veteran, having spent 20 years at Nissan (where he grew to become CEO Carlos Ghosn's right-hand man). In addition, he logged stints at Ford, Jaguar (when it was still a Blue Oval-owned brand) and Microsoft. Despite all that experience, Sproule is still young, at just 45 years of age, as Bloomberg points out, yet he's held positions in the US, Japan and France over the years.

This is all good news for Tesla, which is in need of a strong spokesman outside of company CEO Elon Musk. It's been battling with the state of New Jersey and its governor, Chris Christie, over direct sales in the Garden State.

National and regional dealership associations have it in for Tesla Motors. For the past few years the organizations have been pushing lawmakers – to whom, it bears mentioning, they have made generous financial contributions – for legislation that would make it difficult for the Californian automaker to continue with its direct-to-consumer, company-store sales model. This is, of course, in addition to laws already on the books which make it illegal for manufacturers engaged with existing independent dealership networks to operate their own retail locations.

As you may have heard, the dealers have recently had success in New Jersey and, previously, in Texas. Arizona passed a law in 2000 that forbids manufacturers from obtaining a dealer's license, completing the triad of states which now restrict sales from Tesla stores. Meanwhile, the company has had some amount of success pushing back against these efforts in Massachusetts, Ohio, New York and North Carolina. It is a constant battle, though, even in most of those locales.

Direct sales are key to Tesla's success. It's a big part of how the company managed to move from a simple start up to something of an American automotive phenomenon. While CEO Elon Musk likes to say that it uses this method because selling an electric car would somehow be a conflict of interest for dealerships that also sell conventionally- powered vehicles, there is really a lot more to it than that, and it's wrapped around the customer experience. You can sit at home in your pajamas and configure exactly which color and options you want for your Model S over the Internet, send an electronic payment and have that exact car arrive at your door some weeks later.

The company stores are an outgrowth of that concept, but allow you to see physical samples of the colors and materials involved, take a test drive and interface with a friendly human who can immediately answer any questions you might have, as well as facilitate financial transactions. You still get the exact car that you order.

Having company-owned stores lets Tesla keep complete control of its entire retail network and therefore, the buying experience. Staff aren't paid by commission and are encouraged to be truly customer-focused. Prices are set, so there is no haggling or waiting for a sales person to see their manager about getting you a "better deal." There's no up-selling or attempts to send you home with a pick-up truck when you had wanted to buy a sedan. We'll see if this changes when Tesla introduces the Model X.

By taking a hard line against Tesla, the dealership associations are doing its membership a disservice and wasting a lot of its time and money in the process. This direct-to-consumer cat is out of the bag and it's not going back in. Despite the barriers in Texas and Arizona, Tesla is finding a way to sell cars to people in those territories, and it will do the same in New Jersey. It will modify its activities at its operating stores, rename them "galleries" and move on. More slowly than it might if favorable legislation was in place, perhaps, but it will still pound away. The dealerships associations are so busy with battles, they haven't noticed they've already lost the war. Instead of fighting, dealerships should welcome the competition from Tesla. Embrace it, even.

It doesn't seem likely established automakers will ever again try to cut out the middle man in the US, even if they had the desire. The last attempt by Chrysler certainly didn't end well, and though it didn't necessarily play a large part in Daewoo's demise, it's factory-owned stores didn't seem to give it any special advantage either. The franchise dealership model didn't evolve by accident and still makes a lot of sense. Independent auto retailers put up a lot of capital creating a sales and service infrastructure for manufacturers. This is money automakers don't have to spend in an area that isn't their core competency. Dealerships also lower manufacturers' risk profile by acting as something of a financial buffer in lean times. On top of all that, with the ability to make managerial decisions without calling up a head office somewhere, non-centralized networks can be nimble and respond quickly to the idiosyncrasies of local markets. All that said, there is certainly room for improvement.

Some auto retailers are good at what they do. They profitably sell cars and services while keeping customers happy. Others – some would say the vast majority – not so much. Buying a car has ranked at the bottom of sales experiences for some time. It's unpredictable, long and, too often, agonizing. This is where Tesla can be the traditional dealership's frenemy. Competition is how improvement happens. Not only do rivals serve as a measuring stick, they can also teach new tactics and apply pressure for fundamental change, which can drive innovation. Sure, it already exists to some extent between traditional dealerships, but it mostly seems to push them toward bigger inflatable gorillas on their lots and more balloons in their showrooms. It hasn't brought much improvement to the actual customer experience.

Instead of writing legislators more checks, I suggest this exercise for dealership associations executives and their membership: go incognito to a Tesla store, browse around, maybe take a test drive. Then, do the same at a traditional dealership. Take notes.

Though franchise dealerships cannot exactly emulate the Tesla business model – profit margins from new vehicle sales are razor-thin and have become a tool to drive traffic to the profit-rich finance and service departments, while the electric automaker sees service as a revenue neutral area and depends on outside institutions like US Bank and Wells Fargo for financing – there are likely some elements that might be adapted. Besides using its voice to suggest different environmental approaches to its members - e.g., develop improved showroom atmospheres that reduce stress for both staff and customers - dealer associations can also use their leverage with manufacturers to implement more integral change that streamlines and quickens the buying process.

Staying on the same path is not an option. Tesla is not going away and it certainly won't be drastically changing its approach to how it sells its vehicles. The fight against the innovative automaker may even create new federal legislation that could further open the door to foreign competition following a similar sales approach. Some say fear of Chinese automakers using a direct-to-consumer model is what is really driving the fight from dealership associations, and it would be ironic if that futile effort is what eventually enables it. With young people driving less and the advent of various carsharing schemes, it's clear that dealers see a need to fight for whatever market they can get. I think it's be better, then, to buck up and improve oneself to take on the challenges of tomorrow while there's time, then be distracted by meaningless lobbying and lawsuits and get caught flat-footed by the future.

New Tesla or condo? That's one question you may come up with when you see this video from T Sportline that shows a Model S with enough extras to jack its price up to $205,820. Al & Ed's Autosound of West Hollywood, CA, which has a history of such things, did the honors.

So here's the recipe. You start witt the $85,900 base price for the 85 kilowatt-hour Model S. That pricetag jumps to $123,770 with goodies such as the "performance plus" set-up (including fiber spoiler and red brake calipers) for a tidy $6,500, "smart air" suspension ($2,250), "tech package" ($3,750), ultra high-fidelity sound system ($2,500), panoramic sunroof ($2,500) and 21-inch grey turbine wheels ($4,500).

And then the fun really starts. For instance, those wheels get upgraded to "GhostGold" forged wheels for $7,500, "exterior 3M change wrap" runs $6,000, carbon-fiber body kit goes for $5,250 and the "audiophile upgrade" costs $9,500. Finally, get a load of the "bespoke" made-to-order interior upholstery. That'll run $25,000. And before you know it, you have a mean green machine that's almost twice as expensive as Justin Bieber's chrome Fisker Karma. And from a solvent company, no less.

Al & Ed's is no stranger to pushing Tesla EVs way out into the proverbial high-rent district. The team used the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show to show off a Tesla Roadster with about $50,000 worth of goodies were added. Earlier that year, they customized another Roadster to include, among other things, Mercedes-Benz leather.

Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

By Elon Musk, Chairman, Product Architect & CEO

In 2013, two extremely unusual Model S collisions resulted in underbody damage that led to car fires. These incidents, unfortunately, received more national headlines than the other 200,000 gasoline car fires that happened last year in North America alone. In both cases, the occupants walked away unharmed, thanks to the car's safety features. The onboard computer warned the occupants to exit the vehicles, which they did well before any fire was noticeable. However, even if the occupants had remained in the vehicle and the fire department had not arrived, they would still have been safely protected by the steel and ceramic firewall between the battery pack and the passenger compartment.

It is important to note that there have been no fire injuries (or serious, permanent injuries of any kind) in a Tesla at all. The odds of fire in a Model S, at roughly 1 in 8,000 vehicles, are five times lower than those of an average gasoline car and, when a fire does occur, the actual combustion potential is comparatively small. However, to improve things further, we provided an over-the-air software update a few months ago to increase the default ground clearance of the Model S at highway speeds, substantially reducing the odds of a severe underbody impact.

Nonetheless, we felt it was important to bring this risk down to virtually zero to give Model S owners complete peace of mind. Starting with vehicle bodies manufactured as of March 6, all cars have been outfitted with a triple underbody shield. Tesla service will also retrofit the shields, free of charge, to existing cars upon request or as part of a normally scheduled service.

During the course of 152 vehicle level tests, the shields prevented any damage that could cause a fire or penetrate the existing quarter inch of ballistic grade aluminum armor plate that already protects the battery pack. We have tried every worst case debris impact we can think of, including hardened steel structures set in the ideal position for a piking event, essentially equivalent to driving a car at highway speed into a steel spear braced on the tarmac.

We believe these changes will also help prevent a fire resulting from an extremely high speed impact that tears the wheels off the car, like the other Model S impact fire, which occurred last year in Mexico. This happened after the vehicle impacted a roundabout at 110 mph, shearing off 15 feet of concrete curbwall and tearing off the left front wheel, then smashing through an eight foot tall buttressed concrete wall on the other side of the road and tearing off the right front wheel, before crashing into a tree. The driver stepped out and walked away with no permanent injuries and a fire, again limited to the front section of the vehicle, started several minutes later. The underbody shields will help prevent a fire even in such a scenario.

The first of the three shields is a rounded, hollow aluminum bar that is designed to either deflect objects entirely or, in the case of a self-stabilizing, ultra high strength object, like a three ball steel tow hitch, absorb the impact and force it to pike upwards well forward of the battery pack. This pierces the plastic aeroshield and front trunk liner, but causes no damage affecting safety and the car remains in control and driveable before, during and after the impact.

This is followed by a titanium plate, which has exceptional strength-to-weight properties and is more commonly seen in aerospace or military applications. The titanium plate prevents sensitive front underbody components from being damaged and aids in neutralizing the road debris.

By this point, the vast majority of objects will have been deflected or crushed. For the rare piece of debris that remains intact, we added a third shield, which is a shallow angle, solid aluminum extrusion that further absorbs impact energy, provides another layer of deflection and finally causes the Model S to ramp up and over the object if it is essentially incompressible and immovable.

Thanks to high speed cameras fixed underneath the cars during testing, we have a close-up view of what happens to the objects on impact. As illustrated in the slow motion videos below, the shields destroy everything from a solid concrete block to a steel alternator and safely capture and eject objects made of ultra-hard steel.

The protective qualities of the underbody shields are substantial, but their effect on the overall structure of the vehicle is minimal. In total, the shields only have a 0.1 percent impact on range and don't affect ride or handling. Wind tunnel testing shows no discernible change in drag or lift on the car.

As the empirical evidence suggests, the underbody shields are not needed for a high level of safety. However, there is significant value to minimizing owner inconvenience in the event of an impact and addressing any lingering public misperception about electric vehicle safety. With a track record of zero deaths or serious, permanent injuries since our vehicles went into production six years ago, there is no safer car on the road than a Tesla. The addition of the underbody shields simply takes it a step further.

It may come as a surprise, but it looks like there's high demand for a convertible version of Tesla's Model S sedan, as Newport Convertible Engineering (NCE) confirmed receiving 100 orders for the car from a Chinese investor alone, and plans to ask the Californian electric car maker to provide the company with an additional 5,000 unit for this purpose.

"Newport Convertible Engineering has officially requested Tesla Motors in a joint effort to build another 5000 Tesla Model S convertible for a worldwide demand. [An] Announcement will be made in April 18 2014," said the aftermarket convertible specialist that's based in California.

NCE will begin production of the 100 Tesla Model S Convertibles earmarked for China in July 2014, in three locations around the world, including California USA, Dubai UAE, and Barcelona Spain.

After six months of development, NCE came up with two solutions for the Tesla Model S, a ragtop conversion priced at $29,000 (€21,100) and a hard tonneau cover priced at $49,000 (€35,700). Naturally, these prices exclude the cost of the donor car. The tuner has not yet released actual pictures of the Model S Convertibles, only photoshops.

Tesla Motors is already busy in the courts, filing a suit in New Jersey last week to appeal the direct-sales ban of its automobiles in that state. But now it's going to have to deal with the self-described "King of Lemon Laws," Vince Megna, in Wisconsin. Now that we think about it, this showdown was quite inevitable.

In a video that is obviously part one of who knows how many (view it below), Menga sets up his argument against Tesla because the Model S of a client won't start. Then, he picks up a cardboard George Clooney hitchhiker and goes off to file suit in Milwaukee County Courthouse with an assistant with duct tape on her mouth and "WTF" on her shirt. Subtle, Megna is not.

If that cardboard celebrity bit seems familiar to you, then perhaps you're thinking about the Justin Bieber standup that Megna used in his lemon lawsuit over the Fisker Karma. In fact, Megna is famous in the auto industry for fighting against automakers that he says make shoddy products. In this case, he claims Tesla sold a faulty Model S to a doctor in Franklin, WI. This doctor, Robert Montgomery, got his 2013 Signature Performance Model S in March 2013, and the car has been in the shop for more than 30 days since then. He has asked for his money back, but the automaker has apparently not responded. The nearest shop is in Chicago, so the car gets to ride in a flatbed back and forth.