32 • July 2023 • Powersports Business

BY JOHN PRUSAK CONTRIBUTING WRITER

New snowmobile sales were flat in the U . S ., decreased slightly in Canada and increased notably in some key Scandinavian countries in the just-completed season .

Sales in Russia , meanwhile , were shut off due to trade embargoes following the country ’ s invasion of Ukraine . That pulled down the total worldwide snowmobile market figures .

Those were just some of the highlights released recently by the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association ( ISMA ). ISMA President Ed Klim unveils the sales figures each June at the International Snowmobile Congress event , held recently in Moline , Illinois .

Annual sales in the snowmobile market reflect “ new ” models sold and delivered to customers between May 1 the previous year through April 30 of the current year . They include new / current model machines ( in this case , 2023 models ) plus recent , noncurrent new models that were still in inventory at dealerships .

The “ and delivered ” part is key . The sales figures do not include spring orders for the following year ’ s snowmobile . Sales only count once a new owner takes possession of the machine .

Overall , worldwide sales of new snowmobiles dropped by 4.5 percent to 124,769 units , largely due to limited build-quantities by the snowmobile manufacturers plus the complete shutdown of sales in Russia . Also , supply chain issues in recent years caused many orders to be cancelled or delivered very late . the Northeast , where a sub-par winter was experienced . Anecdotally , dealers have told Snow Goer that units originally planned for Eastern dealers were redeployed elsewhere as winter unfurled to reflect the reality of the weather experienced . Long term , the Northeast remains an important part of the market .

Last year , the Midwest accounted for 41 percent of sales , the West 35 percent and the East 24 percent , ISMA reported .

The U . S . numbers fall in line rather closely with the sport ’ s 10−year sales average . Registrations of new and used snowmobiles crept up slightly in the U . S ., to 1,266,981 units last winter compared to 1,264,097 the previous winter .

CANADIAN SNOWMOBILE SALES FIGURES

Sales of new snowmobiles in Canada slipped 4.5 percent for the 2023 selling season . In real numbers , sales dropped from 50,943 in the 2022 season to 48,252 in 2023 . It should be noted , though , that the 2022 numbers represented the highest number of new snowmobiles sold in Canada since the 2000 season .

Sales in Central Canada grew by about 400 units in 2023 , the ISMA data shows , while sales dropped about 1,700 units in the East and about 750 in Western Canada .

The East still dominates Canadian sales , though . Paced by robust sales in Quebec , the East makes up 47 percent of Canadian sales . Central Canada accounted for 36 percent , with 17 percent in the West .

Canadians registered their sleds in impressive numbers last winter . That figure jumped to 618,872 units compared to 601,601 machines the previous year , ISMA reported .

$ 70,000

$ 60,000

$ 50,000

$ 40,000

$ 30,000

$ 20,000

$ 10,000

$ 0

$ 60,000

$ 50,000

$ 40,000

$ 30,000

$ 20,000

$ 48,599

$ 51,995

$ 51,796 $ 48,689 $ 48,536

$ 54,028

$ 58,299 $ 56,006

$ 50,659

$ 53,179 $ 55 , 025 $ 51,036

$ 59,234 $ 53,821 $ 53,553

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

$ 46,973 $ 50,719 $ 50,209

$ 48,556 $ 46,304

$ 42,953 $ 45,477

U . S . SNOWMOBILE SALES SINCE 2010

CANADIAN SNOWMOBILE SALES SINCE 2000

$ 50,556 $ 49,510

$ 37,670 $ 40,878 $ 40,165

$ 44,022 $ 48,758

$ 50,752 $ 44,431 $ 44,161 $ 47,024 $ 46,784

$ 43,535 $ 50,567 $ 50,943

$ 48,252

U . S . SNOWMOBILE SALES FIGURES New snowmobile sales in the 2023 season in the U . S . decreased by a half percent , according to ISMA data . A total of 53,553 units were sold compared to 53,821 units the previous year – a drop of 268 units .

Looking at it regionally , sales increased 5.6 percent in the Midwest and 1.8 percent in the West . They took a 13 percent dip in

MIXED BAG OVERSEAS Vladimir Putin ’ s desire to overtake Ukraine against international desires has created plenty of headlines in mainstream media . It also reflected in international snowmobile sales figures . In fact , the disappearance of sales into Russia spoiled an otherwise rosy pictures of sales in northern Europe .

According to ISMA data , sales in Sweden

$ 10,000

$ 0

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Source : Data from the International Snowmobile Manufacturers & chart copyright Snow Goer magazine

$ 300,000

$ 250,000

$ 200,000

$ 150,000

$ 100,000

$ 50,000

$ 0

$ 200,000 1980

$ 174,000 1981

$ 152,000 1982

$ 87,000 1983

$ 100,000 1984

$ 93,000 1985

$ 105,000 1986

$ 114,000 1987

$ 123,000 1988

$ 155,000 1989

$ 163,400 1990

$ 153,000 1991

$ 150,000 1992

$ 158,000 1993

$ 181,000 1994

WORLDWIDE SNOWMOBILE SALES SINCE 1980

$ 227,443 1995

$ 252,324 1996

$ 260,735 1997

$ 257,936 1998

$ 230,887 1999

$ 208,297 2000

$ 208,592 2001

$ 203,153 2002

$ 186,627 2003

$ 181,336 2004

$ 173,733 2005

$ 164,860 2006

$ 160,318 2007

$ 163,753 2008

$ 147,066 2009

$ 111,492 2010

$ 123,063 2011

$ 129,087 2012

$ 144,601 2013

$ 157,106 2014

$ 150,713 2015

$ 126,972 2016

$ 118,657 2017

$ 124,786 2018

$ 133,081 2019

$ 123,862 2020

$ 133,444 2021

$ 130,644 2022

$ 124,769

2023 were up 7.3 percent to 9,303 units in the 2023 sales season . Finnish sales jumped a whopping 39 percent to 5,205 new snowmobiles compared to 3,736 sleds the previous year . As a percentage , sales grew even more in Norway , where 5,037 new snowmobiles were retailed compared to 3,527 the previous year . That ’ s a 42.8 percent increase .

Sales by the big four manufacturers in other parts of the world also grew from 2,647 units to 3,419 machines .

However , sales of new machines from those brands into Russia went from 7,299 units in the 2022 season to zero last year . That was due to trade embargoes instituted after Russia ’ s invasion of Ukraine .

So , sales outside of North America were 22,964 units , an 11.3 percent decrease compared to the previous year .

Add all of it together , and you have a grand total of 124,769 retailed units . That ’ s a decrease of 4.5 percent or 5,875 units .

John Prusak is senior vice president of consumer content at EPG Brand Acceleration and editor of Snow Goer , a sister publication to Powersports Business . He has worked in various roles for EPG Media since 1993 and was inducted into the International Snowmobile Hall of Fame in 2020 , under the Hall of Fame ’ s Publishers & Journalists category .