The wholesale market remained stable but selective last week, with modest price gains across both car (+0.15%) and truck (+0.17%) segments despite a slight dip in conversion rates, according to Black Book’s April 14 Market Insights.
Demand continues to center on late-model SUVs and well-positioned units, while buyers show increasing discipline and sensitivity to vehicle-specific factors. Overall, conditions reflect a balanced but uneven market, where performance is driven more by individual unit attributes than broad segment momentum, Black Book reported.
Car Segments
- On a volume-weighted basis, the overall Car segment increased +0.15%. For reference, in the previous week, cars increased +0.16%.
- The 0-to-2-year-old Car segments were up +0.39% and 8-to-16-year-old Cars increased +0.27%.
- Most segments posted gains last week, with increases in seven of nine segments in the 2–8-year range, seven segments among 0–2-year vehicles, and eight In the 8–16-year category.
- After a brief decline two weeks ago, the Mid-Size Car segment rebounded last week, posting a +0.30% gain. The segment has now recorded increases in ten of the past twelve weeks.
- In contrast to the strong spring performance of Mid-Size Cars, the Luxury Car segment has declined in nine of the past twelve weeks, averaging a -0.06% decrease.
Truck / SUV Segments - The volume-weighted, overall Truck segment increased +0.17% compared to the increase seen the prior week of +0.33%.
- The 0-to-2-year-old models saw an average increase of +0.14% and the 8-to-16-year-old models experienced an average increase of +0.16%.
- Truck segments were broadly stronger last week, with gains in ten of the thirteen segments (2–8-year), nine late-model segments (0–2-year), and nine older segments (8–16-year).
- The Compact Crossover segment saw a moderation in gains last week, rising +0.18% compared to +0.68% the prior week. Despite the slowdown, the segment has posted increases in eleven of the past twelve weeks, with an average weekly gain of +0.34%.
- After ten consecutive weeks of gains, averaging a +0.18% weekly increase, the Small Pickup segment declined last week, slipping -0.08%.
