Now that the holidays are behind us and we are in both a new year and a new decade, it’s that annual point in time where we take stock of where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. 

“As we enter the new year, the powersports market is still in the middle of its winter doldrums. Pricing is down nearly across the board, with only the snowmobiles showing signs of life at the moment. All other segments are down, but by mostly smaller amounts than last month,” said Scott Yarbrough, senior analyst of motorcycle and powersports at Black Book.

As for where we have been, last month we mentioned the fairly large nature of the drops in value for most segments and how they were reminiscent of years past, where larger swings in value, both up and down, were the norm. This is one of the biggest changes in the powersports market we have seen over the past decade. At the start of the 2010s, monthly changes in the market as the seasons progressed were much larger than at the end of the decade. We have referred to this as a “flattening” of the market. This, along with the rise in both sales volume and pricing of utility vehicles, coupled with the well-documented softening of the market for large domestic V-Twin cruisers, are the two main storylines over the past decade.

As for where we are going, that is the more interesting question. Of the two trends mentioned above, the “flattening” of pricing throughout the year has recently shown some signs of reverting to past trends with larger month to month changes, but it is still too early to say if this will be a long-term trend. It is, however, something to keep an eye on. As for the increased interest in, and market-share gains for the utility vehicles, coupled with the declining interest in big V-Twin cruisers, those trends appear to be gaining steam as we head into the 2020s.

Link: Black Book