Generated $40.8 Billion In Sales, $6.11 Billion In Payroll, & $1.97 Billion In State & Local Taxes In 2021

Neighborhood New Car Dealerships Drive New Jersey’s Economy

Jul 15, 2022

New Jersey’s 500 neighborhood new car and truck dealerships represent a $40.8 billion per year industry and directly employs or supports more than 70,000 good-paying, local jobs that can’t be outsourced. The New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers (NJ CAR) today released a report that highlights the significant impact the franchised auto retail industry had on the New Jersey economy in 2021. The numbers are impressive, especially when the industry was faced with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as well as other obstacles including the ongoing computer chip shortage, inflation, and supply chain issues that brought vehicle inventories to the lowest levels in decades.

“New Jersey’s neighborhood new car and truck dealerships quickly adapted to these historic challenges to the auto retailing industry,” Jim Appleton, President of NJ CAR. “They demonstrated how critical they are to the New Jersey economy and their willingness to serve each and every consumer, where they want, when they want and how they want.”

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 2021 report include:

  • Franchised new car & truck dealerships directly provided or supported more than 70,000 jobs in 2021.
  • Franchised dealerships had total sales of more than $40.8 billion in 2021.
  • Average new vehicle dealership sales were $81.6 million in 2021.
  • Dealership employees earned $4.22 billion in 2021.
  • The average dealership payroll was $6.11 million in 2021.
  • Dealerships collected or paid nearly $1.97 billion in State and local taxes in 2021.
  • Collectively, New Jersey’s franchised automotive dealerships contributed nearly $16.8 million to hundreds of charitable causes in 2021.