Some of you surely remember the downward spiral of PWC sales after the bubble burst, which trended until around 2012. In 2012, the industry saw it’s first growth again and became a likely alternative to getting on the water in a more inexpensive manner due to the rising fuel prices. Add to that a worldwide surge in jet ski clubs bringing riders together, riding more often, causing a ripple effect of maintenance, new sales, aftermarket upgrades and much more. 2012 also brought changes and movement in the HydroDrags creating a fast growing and very popular water drag race series that is now held multiple times a year in Florida.
In 2013, the introduction of the AquaX had racers’ and manufacturers’ attention offering a venue to run a mostly showroom stock ski and 2014 was the groundbreaking way to the all new PWC Arena Racing coming March 2015 in Naples, FL. The growth over the past two years in all of these areas, combined with manufacturers stepping up and listening to the consumers by producing some of the best and well designed PWC’s to date has caused a double digit increase in PWC sales across the nation that has not stopped yet. According to Info Link, PWCs came out a “Big Winner” in 2014 with a nearly 23-percent growth calculating to some 47,000 units.
One Florida Sales Manager for a Tampa Bay powersports dealership is very optimistic. Looking back at PWC sales the last two years, the dealership has seen double-digit growth with 2014 realizing a 28.7 percent increase in PWC sales over their previous 2013 sales year. This is great news! All the hard work an efforts by manufacturers, dealers, club owners, promoters, media outlets, etc. combined with the Internet and social media are finally attracting new youthful riders while retaining the multi-generational riders currently invested in the PWC Nation.
