The business of dealerships continue on a upward pass last year.
Urban Science’s 2024 Automotive Franchise Activity Report (FAR) found dealership grew by 27 to 18,374 in the U.S. compared to the end of 2023. Looking deeper into the numbers shows that the growth was from independent dealers as the number of franchises dealers dropped by 380 to 30,124 in a year-over-year comparison.
“The overarching takeaway of this year’s Franchise Activity Report is stability, which has been the case — with minimal fluctuation — since approximately 2010,” said Mitch Phillips global director, data, Urban Science. “We’re continuing to see an established pattern. When you look at the 27 rooftops gained in 2024 versus the modest decline in franchises, last year was fairly standard.
“The numbers were slightly higher than average primarily due to brands re-organizing brick-and-mortar commitments in light of EV growth, but the overall difference from previous years was negligible.”
State by State Look
Urban Science has been collecting this information since 1990 and compiles an annual analysis for the previous year in its Automotive Franchise Activity Report. The automotive consultancy and technology firm maintains a list of current new-vehicle dealership and franchise information for all car and light truck brands in the United States. Compiled on a monthly basis, the data comes from a variety of sources, including feeds from automotive manufacturers as well as phone and field verification.
The report found that 95 percent of core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) in the U.S. had virtually no net change in dealerships. Eighty percent of CBSAs had no actual net change in dealerships, with nine percent of CBSAs lost at least one dealership and 11 percent gained at least one dealership.
The most significant state-level changes were net increases in Florida (+21), Texas (+14), Georgia (+9) and North Carolina (+7). Net decreases were cited in Pennsylvania (-8) and Missouri (-10); Alabama, Ohio and Wisconsin’s dealership counts all (net) decreased by four stores each.
Car Sales
Urban Science reported the number of vehicles a dealership sells increased by 22 units this year (to 873 units in 2024 from 851 units a year earlier). Overall, retail sales increased 2.8 percent last year from 203.
The Detroit organization expects throughput to remain stable in 2025 with a modest increase of three units as the industry finds continued stability regarding dealership count and retail sales since the pandemic. Based off GlobalData’s forecast of 16.1 million unit sales in 2025, 876 units sold at each dealership would represent a new peak since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
EV retail sales—comprising battery electric vehicle, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) sales—achieved record sales again in 2024. Year-end EV retail sales were up 22.7 percent in 2024 compared to 2023
As for the coming year, Phillips said “there is no question tariffs, which have yet to directly impact the auto industry, are causing uncertainty — across every industry, not just automotive. That said, dealership activity is a lagging indicator rather than a leading indicator of overall market activity, so it is unlikely the dealer network would see the impact of this uncertainty for a year, if not more.”
