North American Outboard Sales Up

According to the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) wholesale shipments of outboard motors through October are up this year, in both the US and Canada.

The marine industry trade association has released new data that shows US outboard engine shipments between November 2014 and October 2015 to be a full 4.9% higher than for the same period one year earlier. The picture is even rosier in Canada, where wholesale outboard shipments were reported to be up by 15.6% over the previous reporting period. Corresponding dollars were up by 21.9%.

The increases in wholesale shipments have already begun to trickle down to the retail level, with warranty card registrations for the US up 9.2% and up 3.5% in Canada. The NMMA said that four-stroke outboards, and higher-horsepower models in particular, are driving the bulk of the growth.