It's a double edged sword. The manufacturer will be happy if he sell a car. The dealer needs to first buy the car from the manufacturer and then sell it for a profit. Thus the manufacturer have a competetive advantage, that they could use to remove all competition, and then charge whatever the fuck they want.

I just don't think this blanket ban is the way forward, but rather some regulation/comparison about what a store (dealer or manufacture owned) actually pays for cars, so you can clearly see if manufacture owned stores are not getting unfair advantage. I suppose that competition between manufacturs would be the driving force in that case. It's certainly possible.

My own experience was something along the lines of this: Figure out what the car cost on Fords webpage, go to a dealer, get a quote, negotiate a little. Repeat with 2 other dealers and see what you get, and let it be known what offer you have so far (they usually demand some proof, so you better be telling the truth). I ended up paying 15% less than the standard quoted price, which could have been better, but I wanted to buy from a dealer with a great reputation.