March Wholesale Buyers Continuing to Favor Small Cars

Car segment values continued to thrive last week, as nearly all vehicles within the segment saw growing consumer demand, according to Black Book’s March 26 Market Insights report.

Last week, overall car segment values were up 0.26%, compared to the 0.01% depreciation the segment experienced the week prior.

The performance from the car segment from two weeks ago was already strong. The fact that it remained essentially flat on a week-to-week basis was a testament to the strength of smaller cars during the tax season. The performance from cars this past week, however, resulted in the strongest week the car segment has had in two years.

There were two main drivers of the car segment’s performance this week. The first was the continued strength of subcompact, compact, mid-size, full-size, and sporty cars. Respectively, these vehicles saw their average wholesale values increase by 0.32%, 0.89%, 0.36%, 0.06%, and 0.06% week-over-week.

The second driver was the improved performance of vehicles from the luxury car segments. Similar to last week, luxury vehicles were the only vehicles within the car segment to experience a decline in wholesale value, but it was at a lower rate than in the week before.

Overall truck segment values were down 0.19%, compared to 0.27% the week prior. Subcompact crossovers/SUVs, compact crossovers/SUVs, and full-size vans were the top performers within the segment. Subcompact luxury and compact luxury crossovers/SUVs experienced the highest weekly depreciation.