The article is a bit misleading. It makes it sound like direct sales were legal in NJ (and so presumably the only reason Ford and Chevy and Toyota and the rest did not do them is that they did not want to), and the politicians are now stepping in to make a new law to stop Tesla.
In fact, it looks like direct sales have been illegal for a long time, but the law is poorly worded, and can be read in a way that bans direct sales for Ford, Chevy, Toyota, and most other major car manufacturers, but does not apply to manufacturers like Tesla, who only sell direct.
What the new law is doing is saying that the old law is meant to apply to all car manufacturers, not just Ford, Chevy, and so on.
In fact, it looks like direct sales have been illegal for a long time, but the law is poorly worded, and can be read in a way that bans direct sales for Ford, Chevy, Toyota, and most other major car manufacturers, but does not apply to manufacturers like Tesla, who only sell direct.
What the new law is doing is saying that the old law is meant to apply to all car manufacturers, not just Ford, Chevy, and so on.