Lane watch: Luxury units generate notable price decreases
If your store specializes in high-line vehicles, the auction scene might look more appealing.
But if you recently took several luxury trades that now need to go down the lanes, the wholesale market might be a little rough, even as Black Book sees more intense signals of the annual spring market.
Black Book reported overall wholesale values declined 0.19% last week. That’s 4 basis points less than a week earlier and 13 basis points less than the average Black Book recorded during the same week in 2017-2019.
“Despite a general downtrend in the car and truck segments, with notable declines in the near luxury car and subcompact luxury crossover/SUV categories, there were pockets of growth,” Black Book analysts said in the newest installment of Market Insights released on Tuesday.
“For instance, the compact car segment enjoyed its seventh week of gains, albeit at a slower pace, while the full-size crossover/SUV and small pickup segments also saw increases, signaling a varied performance across different vehicle categories,” analysts continued in the report.
On a volume-weighted basis, Black Book indicated overall car segment values decreased 0.25%.
And those declines happened consistently no matter the car’s age. Black Book found that prices for units up to 2 years old dropped 0.19%, while 8- to 16-year-old cars depreciated by 0.22%.
As mentioned previously, Black Book said values for compact cars rose for the seventh consecutive week, posting a modest gain of 0.04% last week.
“This uptick marks a deceleration in growth compared to the previous four weeks, which averaged a more robust 0.18% weekly increase,” analysts said.
Meanwhile, the near luxury car segment paced the car value declines, according to Black Book tracking, sliding by 0.86% and representing the biggest one-week drop for the segment since December.
Black Book pointed out one other interesting trend within cars.
“While the subcompact car segment for vehicles aged 2 to 8 years continues to experience a decline, models in the older 8 to 16 years range have seen an upward trend over the past three weeks. Last week, this segment saw an increase of 0.26%,” analysts said.
In the truck department, Black Book’s volume-weighted information showed overall truck values decreased 0.16%, which was 10 basis points less than a week earlier.
Consistency appeared here, too, as Black Book reported prices for trucks up to 2 years old softened by 0.15% on average, while values for 8 to 16-year-old models decreased by 0.22% on average.
And four of the 13 truck segments increased in value last week, according to Black Book, with full-size crossover/SUVs leading the way by rising 0.21%. It marked four consecutive weeks of value jumps for that segment.
Again, as previously noted, Black Book said prices for sub-compact luxury crossover/SUVs paced the truck declines, softening by 0.46%.
Also dropping at a notable rate were mainstream sub-compact crossovers, which slid by 0.31%, according to analysts.
And while the value uptick was just 0.01% last week, Black Book said prices for minivans moved higher for the first time since early June.
Black Book elaborated about one other truck segment.
“The small pickup category experienced growth last week, registering a gain of 0.16%,” analysts said. “For this segment, the most sizable increases have been observed in the 0- to 2-year-old models, which have been consistently rising for the past three weeks, with last week’s uptick being 0.15%.”
Black Book rounded out its latest update by pointing out the estimated average weekly sales rate was stable a week ago at 53%.
“As February progresses, the pace of depreciation is showing signs of further slowing,” Black Book said. “This week, auction inventory experienced a slight drop compared to last week. Positive trends were observed in four different truck segments, while only two car segments posted increases. These trends suggest that the spring market is beginning to emerge.
“As always, our team of analysts are focused on keeping their eyes on the market, watching for developing trends and gathering insights.”