Everyone hates car dealers now, but at the time the laws were enacted; they made some sense. The problem isn't that we are protecting Ford dealers from Ford (given that the franchisee did have to pay Ford for the franchise). The problem is that Tesla never raised money through franchise arrangements and was/is getting shut out of the market anyway.
I'm no fan of car dealerships but a lot of the hate has to do with the fact that it's such a penny-pinching business (for both consumer and dealer) at most mainstream brand dealers. From what I've heard, if you go into a BMW dealer the experience is usually quite good.
But certainly I don't see why a manufacturer who doesn't have an existing dealer network shouldn't be able to sell in whatever way it chooses.
I've actually found that the car buying experience is not that bad at a dealership, but the service/parts department is not something worth dealing with unless you really have to.
At this point; the dealers know that you know what the invoice price or KBB value of a car is, and what kind of loan rate you can get elsewhere. They might want to sell you a warranty or the like, but at that point you've already negotiated the price of the car, know your loan rate, and can just say no to the extras and move on.
>From what I've heard, if you go into a BMW dealer the experience is usually quite good.
It's not - it's probably better than your average Dodge dealership, but there's nothing inherently different about BMW dealers - they make their money on services and accessories that you don't need like most other dealerships. They'll overcharge you for an oil change (which is typically cheaper, but not much, at an indie mechanic - but it's irrelevant because changing a BMW's oil is so so simple your grandmother can do it) like any other place, but they might offer you some muffins while you wait in the lobby. BMWNA (BMW's North American operations) will keep the dealerships in line if they start watering down the brand value, but you usually have to go through a long and arduous complaint process to get them listening.
High-end car service, even routine service, is certainly pricey. The general storyline I've heard is that you either 1.) Don't care what it costs, 2.) Lease, 3.) Buy with an extended warranty and plan to get rid of it at the end of the warranty, or 4.) Either have an indie mechanic you like or do it yourself.
I don't know the background. Doesn't this same problem exist with any store? I could buy a laptop from BestBuy, or I could go straight to the manufacturer e.g. Dell. I've always been annoyed when I can't just buy things from the manufacturer and have to go through some intermediary.
I'm not sure about "everyone hates dealers", but having never purchased a car, I have no idea why a car store is different from a computer store. What's special about dealerships?
The idea is that car manufacturers would be able to undercut dealerships on prices and thus bankrupt the dealerships[1].
So it's just classic protectionism. The question why the law should protect entities that everyone hates is the baffling part.
[1] http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/eag/246374.htm