to the consumer, it HAS to go through a middle man. I think there was some car company (maybe TESLA?) that was making noise about setting up factory direct stores in malls across America where you could go in, test drive/order a car, and have the factory produce a car and ship it to the store for pick up. Dealerships were getting antsy about what that might mean if Ford/GM/Honda/etc. thought that was a great idea.

I'm fuzzy on the details, but I'm pretty sure that's what you're talking about.