Wholesale prices continued to gain strength for the first week of February in what Black Book Market Insights said is starting to look like the beginning to an early start to the Spring market. 

The largest gains were in the car segments, but the majority of the truck segments also saw week–over–week increases.

Compact cars increased for a third week in a row with the first week of February being the largest of those increases at 0.77%, compared to 0.23% the week prior, Black Book said. Sporty cars continued to show signs of Spring with another week of gains. This segment increased the rate of appreciation to 0.48%, compared to 0.35% the week prior. Prestige luxury cars reversed direction last week and saw a gain of 0.22% after twenty-two weeks of declines.

Meanwhile, all of the van and pickup segments, both full-size and compact, increased this past week, Black Book said. Full-size vans are showing considerable strength as the volume in the segment remains low.

The full-size pickup segment continues to gain strength each week, with the rate of growth increasing to 0.30%, compared to 0.09% in the previous week.

The mainstream crossover segments, sub-compact and compact, are showing consistent week-over-week gains as this price point fits well into the traditional Spring market demand.