Four-wheel market share: Who gained, who lost for 2009?

There’s a new, interesting tease of data concerning North America market share for the four-wheel side of the market. I say “tease” because it’s not complete information, and it’s partly based on estimated data. The market share information is included in a recent Polaris Industries investor presentation that is available online on the company’s Web site.

The presentation shows market share information for four segments of the market, and it does so in kind of a “block formation.” In another words, companies are piled on top of each other, with the market share leader at the top. There is no supporting information that provides specific market share data.

What it shows is there has been little movement at the top of the North America market share pool for ATVs. For 2009, Honda remains on top, with Polaris second and Yamaha third. This reflects what Powersports Business’ Market Data Book estimated for the 2008 market. (The PSB report differs slightly in that it includes only U.S. market share.)

The difference is the Polaris report shows Kawasaki at the fourth spot, with Suzuki at No. 5. In contrast, our Market Data Book report shows Suzuki as No. 4 and Kawasaki No. 5 for 2008.

In UTVs, Polaris’ estimate — there is no official UTV retail sales data — shows it as No. 1 followed by Yamaha and Kawasaki.