> The traditional dealer franchise system is best for car buyers, Wolters insists, because it preserves competition between dealerships selling the same products.

I'm not sure I understand this argument. If I follow this argument to completion, what they are basically saying is that when you have lots of middlemen selling the same product, that "preserves" competition between them, limiting the amount of additional cost they add. Wouldn't removing the middleman also remove that additional cost?