The personal watercraft market continues to outperform other segments of the industry according to Info-Link's latest Bellwether Report.
The report, according to managing director Jack Ellis, is a "fairly high-level, generic look at where the market has been and perhaps where it's going. It's a measure of relativity - how are things doing relative to a year ago."
The report measures year-over-year percentage change in unit sales, and while the figures for all powerboat sales seems to be relatively flat, they have climbed for PWCs.
"The past 12 months ending April '06 were significantly up over the 12 months ending April '05," Ellis said. "They've been doing better over the past 12 months or so than anybody else."
The major spike in sales, however, came last summer, which accounts for much of the change in year-to-year comparisons, Ellis said. For the first quarter of this year, sales for PWC seem to be relatively flat.
By the end of last year PWC sales started to drop. Ellis cited hurricanes and the inability of manufacturers to keep up with demand as likely reasons for the decrease.
Information for the report is based on new boat registrations. Bellwether states, Ellis said, represent about half the market and that gives Info-Link a good sense of what's happening throughout the country.
Bellwether states include Florida, California and Michigan, which are the top three states in boating registrations.
The report, Ellis said, looks at all states, though those figures may differ from Bellwether states. In the PWC segment, however, the numbers are similar.
Miami-based Info-Link is a marketing information service company, specializing in boating.
For more information, visit http://www.info-link.com/.
