Leading U.S. firms in auto retailing & services based on revenue 2021

In 2021, AutoNation generated some 25.8 billion U.S. dollars in revenue and was ranked as the largest automotive retail and services company in the United States. Penske and Lithia Motors are the closest competitors in this field.

A market impacted by chip shortages

Automotive retailing is one of the pillars of the automotive industry in the United States, comprised of some 18,263 light vehicle dealerships and around 236,700 repair and maintenance establishments in 2021. Automotive dealers accounted for approximately two million jobs and 216.6 billion U.S. dollars in real added value that same year—a decrease compared to 2019, which marked the best year for the industry during the 2010 to 2021 time period. This slump in performance is tightly linked to the automotive semiconductor shortage, which prevented the market from rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic even as consumer demand picked back up in 2021.

Soaring prices stifle car sales

The shortages deeply impact both dealerships and consumers: new vehicles’ average selling price had consistently climbed between 2016 and 2021, reaching just under 42,400 U.S. dollars in 2021. The used vehicle market also recorded an average selling price increase in 2021, up over 21 percent compared to 2020. As the monthly inventory-to-sales ratio nosedived through 2021, the used car market became more attractive to consumers, which led to this sharp increase in prices, pricing out potential buyers. This price increase was not in line with Americans’ annual expenditures on vehicle purchases.