Neighborhood New Car Dealerships Will Lead NJ’s Economic Recovery

New Jersey’s Automotive Retailers Generated $37 Billion In Sales & $5.9 Billion In Payroll, State & Local Taxes In 2019

On Jun 25, 2020

New Jersey’s 510 neighborhood new car and truck dealerships represent a $37 billion per year industry and directly employ or support nearly 76,000 good-paying, local jobs that can’t be outsourced. The New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers (NJ CAR) released a report that highlights the significant impact the franchised auto retail industry had on the New Jersey economy in 2019. The first few months of 2020 continued the positive trend until New Jersey became the epicenter in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic resulted in statewide stay-at-home orders and restricted vehicle sales for several months, with sales plummeting 70-80% in April,” said Jim Appleton, President of NJ CAR. “Sales started rebounding quickly as dealers expanded digital retailing operations and adopted a long list of contactless delivery, sanitization and other processes to safely serve customers. This commitment to customer and employee safety will allow New Jersey’s neighborhood new car and truck dealerships to lead the Garden State’s recovery from the economic havoc caused by the pandemic.”
The report, entitled The Economic Impact of Franchised New Vehicle Retailers on the New Jersey Economy, contains hard data on employment, payroll, tax collections, automotive sales and charitable contributions from New Jersey’s franchised automotive retailers. Some of the findings in the 2020 report include:

• Franchised new car & truck dealerships directly provided or supported more than 76,000 jobs in 2019, up from 74,500 jobs in 2018.
• Franchised dealerships had total sales of more than $37 billion in 2019, up from $36.1 billion in 2018.
• Average new vehicle dealership sales were $72.6 million in 2019, up from $70.2 million in 2018.
• Dealership employees earned $4.07 billion in 2019, up from $3.89 billion in 2018.
• The average dealership payroll was $5.8 million in 2019, up from $5.5 million in 2018.
• Dealerships collected or paid nearly $1.83 billion in State and local taxes in 2019, up from $1.78 billion in 2018.
• Collectively, New Jersey’s franchised automotive dealerships contributed nearly $16 million to hundreds of charitable causes in 2019.

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