In the United States, direct manufacturer auto sales are prohibited in many states by franchise laws requiring that new cars be sold only by independent dealers

In the United States, direct manufacturer auto sales are prohibited in many states by franchise laws requiring that new cars be sold only by independent dealers [1]. This source provides some historical context as to where the franchise laws originated from, albeit, I cannot find anything that directly links Ford to my original assertion [2]. The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) is responsible for representing 16,500 dealerships across the nation. While NADA abstracts away the ties between dealers and automakers, the vast majority of NADA participants are the legacy/typical automakers [3]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_US_dealership_disputes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_US_dealership_disputes [2] https://www.cato.org/regulation/summer-2014/tesla-car-dealers-lobby#origins-of-automotive-distribution-restrictions https://www.cato.org/regulation/summer-2014/tesla-car-dealer... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Automobile_Dealers_Association https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Automobile_Dealers_As...