Urban Science’s 2017 mid-year Automotive Franchise Activity Report points to continued stability in the number of automotive dealerships in the U.S. A total of 18,199 dealerships (rooftops) as of July 1, represent a 0.2 increase from the January 1 total of 18,170.
The number of franchises, or brands a dealership sells, also increased slightly from 32,012 on January 1 to 32,046 on July 1.
The most significant (net) dealership increases, occurred in Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Ohio, said Mitch Phillips, global director of data for Urban Science.
“An interesting observation is California and New York, both typically on the most active list, are no longer included on the most active list, demonstrating a period of stability,” said Phillips.
“Sales throughput for dealers is defined as the number of sales divided by dealer count,” said Phillips. “With a stable dealer count, the throughout record is controlled by the sales volume. With the current range of 2017 forecasts being less than 2016, throughput is forecasted to fall around 25 units to 940 units.”
