Riding Season Is Here!
February’s pre-owned wholesale performance continues to affirm dealers confidence in the 2014 riding season as they stock up for spring. February brought sizable increases in the Average Wholesale Pricing (AWP) over prior months across the majority of popular powersport categories.
Off-road pricing has grown the most, with the ATV category up 12 percent and the MX category up 7 percent. Pricing fell in the dual-sport category, which can be highly volatile month-to-month due to limited volume. We also saw an increase in AWP across all on-highway categories. Both the domestic and metric cruiser categories have climbed steadily – domestic cruisers are up 7 percent over the last three months while metric cruisers are up 4 percent and sportbikes are up 10 percent.
Natural Spring Market Rise?
Seasonal history shows that prices generally climb in the spring and fall in the winter. Is February’s price growth a natural behavior of the spring market, or a result of increased dealer demand? The answer is likely both. If we compare January and February 2014 to the prior two years, recent prices are clearly an improvement over the same period in 2012, which is a reflection of increased dealer appetite.
If we compare the AWP from 2013 to 2014, which had similar mixes of product quality and model age, the results vary by category. This suggests that the upward trend over the prior three months is primarily the typical seasonal effect.
The story will likely shift as the weather unfolds later in the year. Spring 2014 is beginning with the hope and enthusiasm we saw last year. If the weather holds as 2014 takes shape and historical trends repeat, we should see strong wholesale prices for both on-highway and off-road segments through May.
MPN has partnered with National Powersport Auctions (NPA) to provide our readers with a monthly recap of pre-owned wholesale powersport sales results. NPA is the largest provider of pre-owned vehicles.
