The Detroit News (Washington, D.C.) - Sixty-six auto dealerships opened across the nation in the first three months of the year, and the number of people employed by dealerships is up, too.
The uptick comes amid growing auto sales. Last year, U.S. auto sales rose 10.2 percent, and sales are up 10 percent through May.
In May, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association, the nation's new and used car dealers added 2,400 jobs to 1.08 million. May's total payroll was 30,000 greater than in May 2011.
NADA says 933,500 people worked at U.S. new-car and -truck dealerships in 2011, a 4.6 percent increase from the previous year; and 17,540 new-car dealerships were in business at the end of 2011.
The number of new-car dealers fell sharply as the automotive industry contracted and automakers shed brands: Mercury, Oldsmobile, Saturn, Pontiac, Saab and Hummer were the most recent to fall. General Motors and Chrysler also shed about 2,000 dealers as part of their 2009 bankruptcy reorganizations.
But with startups and new brands arriving in the U.S., the auto dealer sector may have hit the bottom.
"The arrival of new brands and new dealerships is a sign that even more vigorous competition is on the way in the U.S. vehicle marketplace," said Paul Taylor, chief economist at NADA.
"As new brands enter the U.S. market, the net dealership count may increase in future years of strong economic growth."
In 2011, the average new-car dealership in the U.S. employed 53 workers and had an annual payroll of $2.6 million. In Michigan, however, the average dealer had 44 employees — 28,285 statewide.
That's in part because Michigan dealers' average sales lag the national average.
New-car dealers reported $609 billion in total U.S. sales last year, an increase of 12 percent. Michigan's 643 dealers had total sales of $12.8 billion.The average Michigan dealership's sales, $19.9 million, was the 47th-lowest among U.S. states, ahead of only Montana at $19.8 million and Vermont at $18.1 million.
Oklahoma was first at $65.7 million per dealer, followed by Arizona at $54.3 million.
The NADA said dealerships provided an average 14.5 percent of total retail payroll in their states in 2011. That figure was 14 percent in Michigan.
