Urban Science® today announced its 2025 Mid-Year Automotive Franchise Activity Report (FAR), which revealed an overall decline in franchise count across the U.S. automotive retail network through the first half of the year. As of July 2025, the number of franchises – brands a dealership sells – decreased slightly in the U.S. compared to year-end figures from 2024 (30,124 to 29,813).
“Though there was a slight decline in franchises during the first half of the year, 2025 has shown signs of stability in other areas, with steady increases in dealership and EV sales counts,” said Mitch Phillips, global director, data, Urban Science. “Regardless of the trend direction, these fluctuations underscore the importance of understanding real-time sales data and leveraging it to create an optimal, science-driven and competitive sales and service network aligned with customer needs. Doing so positions automakers and their dealerships to drive loyalty and profitability as consumer preferences and sales patterns continue to transform, and to better mitigate risks and seize opportunities regarding key business priorities across sales and service operations.”
Additional insights from this year’s Mid-Year Franchise Activity Report include the following:
U.S. EV retail sales continued to rise despite an overall decrease in retail throughput.
Urban Science reported throughput – the number of vehicles a dealership sells – fell by 5% (48 units per store) in the first half of 2025. After achieving record sales in 2024, EV retail sales – comprising battery electric vehicle (BEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) sales – are anticipated to rise 16 units (from 155 at the end of 2024 to 171 in June 2025), according to data from Urban Science.
Additional U.S. EV sales insights can be found in Urban Science’s Q2 2025 EV Retail Sales Report, which is available here.
Markets are stable; several new states saw dealership count growth.
According to Urban Science, 97% of core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) in the U.S. had virtually no net change (+/- one store) in dealerships, up from 95% at the end of 2024. When compared to year-end data, the number of U.S. franchise dealerships rose from 18,374 in 2024 to 18,393 in July 2025. Leading this growth was Texas (+7), which continued its rank among the top states in terms of dealerships opened. Louisiana (+4), Michigan (+4), North Carolina (+4) and New Jersey (+4) all saw increases as well. Florida and California are still adding stores but fell out of the top five most active states.
About Urban Science
Urban Science is a leading automotive consultancy and technology firm that serves automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and dealers, and the advertising technology companies that support them, around the world. Headquartered in Detroit and operating in 20 office locations globally, Urban Science taps the power of its science – and its unrivaled data, solution offerings and industry expertise – to create clarity and business certainty for clients in even the most chaotic market conditions. Visit UrbanScience.com for more information about how Urban Science helps automotive manufacturers and dealers gain competitive edges by taking the guesswork out of critical business decisions, and in turn drives improved efficiency and profitability industrywide.
About the Urban Science Automotive Franchise Activity Report
Urban Science 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 census is the most reliable source of dealership statistics. The data comes from a variety of sources, including feeds from automotive manufacturers as well as phone and field verification. Urban Science has been collecting this information since 1990 and compiles an annual analysis for the previous year in its Automotive Franchise Activity Report.
