Not only are there more franchised dealerships in the United States than there were at the end of 2014, but the average number of new-vehicle sales per dealership is also trending toward an all-time record.

That’s according to statistics from Urban Science, which has released its 2015 midyear Automotive Franchise Activity Report.

The data shows that the number of franchised dealerships at the beginning of July showed a 0.3-percent increase from the end of 2014, up to 18,011 rooftops total in the nation.

According to the report, the throughput of those dealerships is trending to achieve an all-time record of 945 units per rooftop, resulting in the anticipated 17.1 million new-vehicle unit sales forecasted by LMC Automotive.

If achieved, the all-time high would tally the fourth consecutive year that U.S. dealerships maintained a throughput record.

While there was a slight increase in the number of rooftops, the number of franchises also increased by 0.3 percent since the end of 2014, up to 31,714 as of the beginning of July.

Mitch Phillips, the global director at Urban Science, believes the throughput record is very much likely to be broken this year.

“Dealership and franchise counts remain stable throughout the first half of 2015,” Phillips said. “Most local markets have not seen any net change in dealership counts at all.

“Breaking the sales throughput record looks promising,” he continued. “With a strong industry forecast and this stable dealer count, we are on track to top the 2014 record.”

Looking at individual states, Texas has seen the biggest increase of 10 dealerships this year. The Lone Star State is followed by California (8) and Florida (7), then Iowa, Maryland and Virginia (5 each).