Licenses required of motor vehicle manufacturers, distributors, importers, etc.

(1) No manufacturer, factory branch, distributor, or importer (all sometimes referred to hereinafter as “licensee”) shall engage in business in this state without a license therefor as provided in ss. 320.60-320.70. No motor vehicle, foreign or domestic, may be sold, leased, or offered for sale or lease in this state unless the manufacturer, importer, or distributor of such motor vehicle, which issues an agreement to a motor vehicle dealer in this state, is licensed under ss. 320.60-320.70.

(2) The department may prescribe an abbreviated application for renewal of a license if the licensee had previously filed an initial application pursuant to s. 320.63. The application for renewal shall include any information necessary to bring current the information required in the initial application.

(3) All licenses shall be granted or refused within 30 days after application.

(4) When a complaint of unfair or prohibited cancellation or nonrenewal of a dealer agreement is made by a motor vehicle dealer against a licensee and such complaint is pending pursuant to ss. 320.60-320.70, no replacement application for such agreement shall be granted and no license shall be issued by the department under s. 320.27 to any replacement dealer until a final decision is rendered on the complaint of unfair cancellation, so long as the dealer agreement of the complaining dealer is in effect as provided under s. 320.641(7).

(5) Any manufacturer, distributor, or importer, who obtains a license under this section, is engaged in business in this state and is subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state pursuant to chapter 48. Any manufacturer not licensed under this section, who is a manufacturer of motor vehicles of a recognized line-make which are sold or leased in this state pursuant to a plan, system, or channel of distribution established, approved, authorized or known to the manufacturer, shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state in any action seeking relief under or to enforce any of the remedies or penalties provided in ss. 320.60-320.70.