July 3, 2006 – Snowmobile Report

Snowmobile sales continue decline
For the 2005-’06 selling season, worldwide snowmobile sales were down 5 percent from 173,733 units to 164,860 units, according to industry numbers provided by International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association (ISMA) at the International Snowmobile Congress on June 9.
The recent peak selling year was 1997, when 260,735 units were sold worldwide. Unit sales have been on an overall steady decline since that year. U.S. unit sales were 91,670, down 9 percent from 100,899 units sold in 2005.
In dollars, 2006 sales were posted at $740 million, with an average machine cost of $8,064. In Canada, 42,953 units were sold for a 7 percent decline in sales from 46,304 units sold in 2005. In U.S. dollars, $364 million worth of snowmobiles were sold in Canada, with an average unit price of $8,474.
Unit sales in Scandinavia and Russia showed a 14 percent increase to 30,225 units, up from 26,530 in 2005. The growth of snowmobile sales in Russia means that ISMA may soon break out Russian sales into its own market, said Ed Klim, ISMA president.
Additional statistics are at www.snowmobile.org.
Wisconsin Makes Two New Laws
A new law signed in late March in Wisconsin will affect snowmobile riding in that state. The state now has a 55 mph nighttime speed limit, which is in effect statewide from a half hour after sunset to a half hour before sunrise.
“During this past snowmobile season 69 percent of our fatal accidents occurred at night and 67 percent were speed-related,” said Gary Eddy, snowmobile administrator for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. psb