Recent data from Urban Science revealed continued stability across the United States’ automotive retail network in 2024, with dealership counts up and a new post-pandemic throughput high expected in 2025.
In its update, the company said there were 27 more dealerships (rooftops) in the U.S. as of December 31, 2024 (a total of 18,347), when compared to the same date in 2023 (when there were 18,374). The number of franchises decreased 380, from 30,504 to 30,124 year-over-year.
They also reviewed throughput, or the number of vehicles a dealership sells, and saw an increase of 22 units, rising from 851 units in 2023 to 873 units in 2024. And retail sales overall, for all powertrain types, jumped 2.8 per cent last year compared to 2023.
“In this environment of continued stability regarding dealership count and retail sales, Urban Science expects throughput to remain stable in 2025 with a modest increase of three units,” said the company in a news release. “This uptick to 876 units would represent a new peak since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.” (That figure is based on GlobalData’s forecast of 16.1 million unit sales in 2025.)
On the electric vehicle front, Urban Science’s Q4 EV sales report, shows retail sales — battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and hybrid electric vehicles — achieved record sales in 2024. They said year-end EV retail sales soared 22.7% compared to 2023.
“This sales growth was led by HEVs, up 33 per cent over YE (year-end) 2023, climbing 1.4 million retail unit sales, a new record for this segment. Just three brands — Toyota, Honda, and Ford — comprised roughly 80 per cent of all HEV retail sales volume in 2024,” the report reads.
The full report is available here.
