DETROIT -

The U.S. franchised dealership count remained fairly steady last year and throughput, or new-vehicle sales per store, hit a record high — two trends that Urban Science says the market could repeat for 2014.

The firm released its 2013 Automotive Franchise Activity Report on Monday and was predicting a fourth straight year of stability in the dealership network — and this appears to be a good thing.

“Over the last five years, the dealership network has set a new normal pattern,” said John Frith, vice president of Urban Science.

“Maintaining this very conservative rate has allowed the U.S. network to continue its impressive increase in sales per dealer, creating a healthy and right-sized retail structure that benefits the dealers and automakers,” Frith continued.

There were 17,838 franchised dealer rooftops in the U.S. as of Jan. 1. This is down ever so slightly from 17,851 rooftops on Jan. 1, 2013.

Urban Science’s analysis points out that the dealership count can be influence how profitable individual dealers are since dealership count and throughput are closely tied.

With 15.6 million new-vehicle sales in 2013, throughput was at 874 sales per dealership, Urban Science found. This best-ever average beats the old throughput record, set the previous year, by 7.6-percent

What’s more, the 874 sales per dealership in 2013 is nearly a 55-percent improvement from the record low throughput of 564 from 2009, according to the data.

And this year could be even stronger, before the market eventually rounds out to a more “normal” throughput of 850. If LMC Automotive’s projections for 16.15 million new-car sales in 2014 come to fruition, Urban Science said throughput this year would be at 914, which would “shatter” the current record. Then, the firm says, the market is likely to settle down ultimately.

Breaking down some of the dealership count data in more detail, Urban Science said that nearly all (96 percent) of local markets showed no year-over-year change, essentially.

The study did point out, however, that California (34 new dealerships) and Texas (15 new dealerships) had the most increases for the second straight year.

When looking at franchises, or brands that a dealership sells, Urban Science found there was 31,440 as of Jan. 1. Again, this is off very slightly (0.5 percent) from the year-ago sum of 31,608 franchises. Urban Science attributes much of this to the 220 Suzuki franchise closures.

But overall, the market remains quite stable.

“When it comes to the number of dealerships and franchises, there’s no question we’re in the midst of a very comfortable balance with sales,” said Frith. “We see no indication that any dramatic changes are to be expected in the near future.”