dangrossman, in one of the other Tesla threads here on HN, answered a question of why Tesla can't just set up dealerships themselves. The rest of this post is a direct copy of dangrossman's response at
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7490837 - upvote that, not my ability to copy&paste:
Because, under the same state laws, that's illegal as well.
"It shall be unlawful for any franchisor to ... acquire any interest in any motor vehicle dealer in this state ... or to use any subsidiary corporation, affiliated corporation, captive finance source or any other controlled corporation, partnership, association or person to accomplish what would otherwise be unlawful conduct under this article"
-- NY Vehicle and Traffic Laws, Article 17A, Franchised Motor Vehicle Dealer Act, S 463 Unfair Business Practices by Franchisors
There'd be little point to having the rest of the law on the books if it were so easy to work around.
Note that "franchisor" as defined in that law includes all manufacturers, whether they sell franchises or not. IANAL.