Craig Trudell  |  Bloomberg News  |  February 16, 2011

U.S. auto sales per dealership may return to levels reached before the recession after General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC closed locations.

Sales per dealer may rise to about 745 new vehicles this year, according to auto-dealership consultant Urban Science. The National Automotive Dealership Association (NADA) forecasts total U.S. sales in 2011 may rise 11 percent to 12.9 million, which would be about 23 percent less than the annual average from 2000 to 2007.

The number of U.S. auto dealerships fell 4.4 percent last year to 17,659, Detroit-based Urban Science said today in its annual Automotive Franchise Activity Report. The rate of dealer closures slowed from 8 percent in 2009, according to the report.

"The domestic consolidations worked and have allowed the remaining dealers an opportunity see their numbers rebound faster," John Frith, vice president of Urban Science, said in a statement.

GM, the largest U.S. automaker, and Chrysler eliminated more than 2,200 dealers as part of their bankruptcy reorganisations in 2009. The shutting of about a quarter of the companies' dealerships drew criticism by the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which said in a report last year that the "dramatic and accelerated" closures may not have been necessary and added to unemployment.

More closures expected

Detroit-based GM reorganised with $49.5 billion in government aid, while Auburn Hills-based Chrysler got $12.5 billion in assistance for its reorganisation that year from the government's TARP programme, which also aided banks.

More dealerships may close in 2011 after Ford Motor Co. discontinued its Mercury brand at the end of last year, according to Urban Science.

Ford plans to reduce the number of dealerships selling its Lincoln luxury brand in the biggest U.S. metropolitan markets by 25 percent to 325 outlets, the Dearborn-based automaker told dealers and reporters this month at the NADA convention in San Francisco.

The industry averaged a 16.8 million annual rate from 2000 to 2007, according to New Jersey-based researcher Autodata Corp.