Gas Prices going back up! Gas Report August 2011

Our country has seems to have forgotten all about rising gas prices. Everyone is so worried that Congress might not pay its bills that we've forgotten all about that fact that we're being bled dry at the gas pump.

How will this affect scooter sales? The last few weeks scooter sales slowed down because gas prices were going down. Obama had this brilliant idea of releasing the reserves for no reason. Prices went down.

Now prices are going back up and since most people are reactionary when this happens a new surge of sales seems to be happening.

Scooters are one of the few bright spots in the Motorcycle Industry right now. A major Polaris dealer just confessed to me their numbers are off and Polaris isn't telling the dealers how bad the side by side downfall is. So why isn't the industry pushing more scooters?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAMbWF-Lh1k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBlkpZSAoVg

Now these numbers don't include side by sides, but I know those numbers are down as well.

So scooters are up overall and we know that the number is higher that 5% simply because 90% of the Chinese companies don't report to anyone. So for every Vespa or Honda that reports you know 4 SUNL and Jonways are selling.

The MIC posts numbers on a quarterly basis. The data applies only to 19 reporting manufacturers: Aprilia, Arctic Cat, BMW, Buell, Can-Am, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Husaberg, Kawasaki, KTM, Moto Guzzi, Piaggio, Polaris, Suzuki, Triumph, Vespa, Victory and Yamaha.

Here at MRP we feel 2011 has turned into the year of the recovery. Things have stabalized, we are going to see a much better 2012, but this was a recovery year. New dealers are opening, the economy is slowly coming back, and many new dealers are taking the place of the ones that closed.

Now if the new dealers would stock parts and accessories instead of sending consumers to buy everything online the store churn and closure rate might it just might stabilize. One bad statistic the lifespan of the average scooter store has continued to go down from 5 years to under 4. Yes, we hear a lot about the new "local" Genuine or Kymco franchise, but the real test is how long they stay in business. We feel this number needs to go back up for a real recovery to happen.