Incumbent manufacturers have to go through dealers. Allowing Tesla to bypass dealers wouldn't be fair to other car manufacturers.
"Tesla repay a big federal loan a few weeks ago, many years before they had to?"
Why does this matter? They were given a large loan. That large loan gave them a large runway to have one profitable quarter, which allowed them to pay back the loan by issuing shares and bonds. Another car manufacturer couldn't do the same if you gave them $500M loans? Why should Tesla get it and not others?
"Tesla repay a big federal loan a few weeks ago, many years before they had to?"
Why does this matter? They were given a large loan. That large loan gave them a large runway to have one profitable quarter, which allowed them to pay back the loan by issuing shares and bonds. Another car manufacturer couldn't do the same if you gave them $500M loans? Why should Tesla get it and not others?