re: Consumers should be able to buy vehicles directly from the factory

Sounds good...but who will help honor all the warranty work and system to keep your car on the road?
Let's take Rolex as an example....if broken under warranty, you take it off your wrist and send it in for repairs and wait a month or so (strictly an example and may not be exactly accurate)
What would you do with your broken warrantied car? I'm in no way advocating for dealers, I'm simply asking how you expect the factory to get service and support in every city in the civilized world?

But I DO agree, sticking with Rolex model, the factory should set the pricing and all dealers are bound by the pricing. And the factory would have severe pressure to stay efficient enough to have high quality low priced cars put out.