the kind of competition lacking if the manufacture sets the price and there are no negotiations over that price.
Really? I would love to be able to shop for a car and know that no matter where I shopped I was getting the exact same price. I absolutely HATE having to negotiate on the price, and the popularity of services like truecar suggest that a huge number of people agree with me.
I think Tesla will have to sell cars via dealers
Why? Tesla sees dealers for the unnecessary middle men that they are. They've already shown that they would rather not enter a market than open a franchised dealership. I don't see any reason that this would change.
Life is a healthy respect for mother nature laced with greed.