After a winter of record warmth and low precipitation across the vast majority of snow-starved North America last season, virtually all observers expected new snowmobile sales to trend downward. Really, the only question was how far south they would slide.
In the U.S., the numbers were surprisingly decent. In Canada? They are rather painful to look at. The numbers in European countries also slid slightly, despite decent snow on that side of the Atlantic Ocean. Other parts of the world picked up some sales.
All totaled, snowmobile sales across the planet for the 2024 selling season dipped 9.7 percent to 112,650 units, according to numbers released recently by the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association (ISMA) at the annual International Snowmobile Congress. The event was held this year in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The figures reported by ISMA include sales and delivery of new, model year 2024 snowmobiles plus “non-current” new snowmobiles from recent model years retailed during the 2024 sale season. That season went from May 1, 2023, to April 30, 2024. The figures do not include any spring orders of 2025 snowmobiles.
Looking forward, dealer inventories of unsold new snowmobiles are high, and spring pre-orders this year were sluggish. Therefore, some manufacturers have already announced they are significantly cutting the total number of 2025 units they will build.
Snowmobile Sales Dip In U.S.
Winter got off to a late start across all of the U.S. Snowbelt in the winter of 2023-24. Some parts of the Mountain West eventually received decent snow. But from the Dakotas through Michigan, the Upper Midwest was virtually skunked of ridable snow all winter. Plus, most parts of the Northeast suffered their third subpar winter in a row. In fact, historians are struggling to find a winter that compares in terms of warmth and dryness.
Given all of that background, the U.S. sales figures were surprisingly palatable.
Total U.S. new snowmobile sales were 51,987 units. That represents a 2.97 percent decrease over the 53,553 tallied during the 2023 selling season. For context, new snowmobile sales in the U.S. over the past 15 years have averaged 52,963 per year.
“While the U.S. numbers were down, we could almost completely attribute it to lack of snow,” explained longtime ISMA president Ed Klim, who is retiring and handing the reigns of the organization over to Jaret Smith. “There’s not much you can do when it doesn’t snow.”
In the U.S., the Midwest accounted for 42 percent of total sales, while the West contributed 38 percent and the Northeast notched 20 percent, ISMA reported. Snowmobile registrations sat at a solid 1,214,253 in the U.S., which represents a 4 percent decrease. But considering all of the anecdotal reports of folks not even registering their sleds last year due to winter’s late arrival, Klim said the numbers are decent.
“Overall, that’s not a bad decline considering how poor the snow conditions were,” Klim said. “I look at this as an optimistic outlook. It’s still pretty upbeat as an industry. People want to go snowmobiling, but it’s got to snow! So, start doing your snow dance now.”
With the horrible (by snowmobilers’ standpoint) winter that was experienced, most knowledgeable industry observers (dealers, aftermarket vendors, investor researchers) were expecting far more dire numbers. Those sort of figures, though, were reserved for north of the international border.
Snowmobile Sales Up North? Oh Canada!
In Canada, sales of new snowmobiles plummeted to their second lowest number since 1986. The country reported 38,599 new units sold compared to 48,252 a year earlier. That’s a dramatic 20 percent fall-off and the fewest annual sales reported in Canada since 37,670 new snowmobiles were retailed in model year 2010.
As in the U.S., lack of snowfall was the main factor, particularly in parts of Quebec and Ontario. Those provinces make up the majority of snowmobile sales in the country. Incoming ISMA President Jaret Smith, though, informed us of another factor: a larger impact of higher interest rates due to the differences in ways folks finance homes in Canada vs. the U.S.
Eastern Canada accounted for 44 percent of total sales. Thirty-six percent were attributed to the center of the country and 20 percent to the West.
“I think the Quebecois in some ways were in shock last season, because they pretty much always have snow,” Klim added. Sled registrations in Canada slipped to 555,517 units compared to 618,872 last year.
International Snowmobile Sales Numbers
Snow and cold air was far more plentiful in Scandinavia last winter than on this side of the Atlantic. But sled sales still declined, thanks the economies that are struggling more there than they are over here in these challenging times.
New sled sales in Sweden were 8,931 in the 2024 sales season, keeping it as the sport’s third biggest country after the U.S. and Canada. The 2024 numbers represent a 4 percent decrease compared to 2023. Norway accounted for 4,203 units, which was 17% less than in 2023. A total of 4,141 were sold in Finland, which was a 20 percent drop.
Interestingly, the “Other” category outside of North American showed growth, jumping from 3,419 units in the 2023 sales season to 4,789 in 2024. Klim and Smith both stated that the manufacturers don’t break down where those sales are coming from. Capturing accurate data is made difficult by the fact that such sales typically go through international distributors, Smith explained. He and Klim namechecked China, Japan, Poland and Moldova as locations of some sales. But the sales are truly scattered across the globe, they said.
Overall, the biggest thing missing from the International numbers is the Russian market due to trade embargoes.
“Before they invaded Crimea [in 2014] we were reporting 30,000 units sold in Russia at that point in time,” Klim said. “So, that went from 30,000 to zero. So when you look at the overall international sales, most of the big decline is because the Russian market has disappeared.”
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If it wasn’t for the 8-20 thousand dollars for a sled the numbers would probably be a lot higher.
This is most obvious to the most casual observer. Sales always dip when winters don’t have much snow. That said, the real die hards are still buying and may wait until the following year when more snow may come to plunk down their hard earned cash. I happened to buy my first brand new sled since 2009. It probably cost twice or nearly three times a sled did in 2009. I only managed to put 160 miles on, but you can bet I’m ready for next winter. I know alot of people are ditching snowmobiling in favor of what seems to be a more year round vehicle like an ATV or UTV. I can’t say that I blame them, but I don’t know in the long run that this will be a great thing for the sport of snowmobiling. Snowmobiling has far less of an impact on the wilderness than UTVs and ATVs. Once the s ow melts, it’s difficult to tell where snowmobiles made tracks, unlike their wheeled brethern. What are other people’s thoughts on this? Will trail systems grow with more UTV/ATV use? Or will landowners begin to close their properties and easements over growing concerns of damage to property, noise and dust? One thing I hope for is a renewed interest in more companies offering sleds and getting families back in to the sport. Think snow!
Way to much money for sleds that dont last 2 years would be biggest reason 34k for a turbo mountain sled no thanks
You can say that again, sleds should come down 20%. i bought a new polaris 2019, out the door with taxes and acc. was about 20000 $ canadian. Now thats about 25000, i hope to never havr to buy a new sled again.
I’d say sales are down because sled prices have gotten absolutely ridiculous… and with the economic hardships people are facing, who the hell has $25k to spend on a snowmobile that’s usually only good for 15000 km’s.
I imagine the large incentives manufacturers had at the end of the year helps keep sales up. I bought a brand new snowmobile for the first time in my life at the end of February. I was planning on snow checking but the deals were too good. I actually got the exact snowmobile I would have built, which was hard to find considering the track option is not the typical floor model track. And good thing I got it because that model doesn’t exist for 2025. The XC line from Polaris. Which I think is a great move for Polaris considering that model probably would have had many changes and plenty of 24 and 23 are sitting at dealers. I save $3,200 off MSRP and got a free second year of warranty.
Also with no snow means a lot of people saved a lot of money. A second year of no snow in the Midwest would be the killer. But we can’t forget in the Midwest the year before was a fantastic better than average winter. Which means the chances of this being the new age of winters is so low. The last time MN had a winter like this was 145 years ago. And that winter was so warm the range in temp to 2nd place was bigger than the temp range from 2nd to 5th. So history says it’s a fluke.
It’s a great sport but 15 grand for the sled 5 grand for the trailer 5 hundred for apparel got to get out more than a couple of weekends o the insurance I WANT SOME SNOW ❄
The OEM’s have learned nothing from Harley. They continue to chase the Baby Boomer demographic with ever more expensive, feature laden sleds. They are apparently too stupid to realize once your core demographic ages out of riding you’ve got very few people left to buy your sleds.
Maybe a second bad winter in a row will cause them to change up the product offerings so sleds actually run past 2000 miles without blowing up. Maybe focus on offering just good, general, all around sleds instead of specialized niche machines that overheat in any snow conditions that isn’t waist deep powder.
The sled market is broken and the OEM’s can’t seem to figure things out.
The last time this was published I predicted sales would be ~90,000 due to the ridiculous high prices, poor quality of the sleds that don’t last, too many recalls and problems with sleds, poor weather was a factor but no where near the biggest cause of the decline.
Record sled sales was 600,000+ units in 1970 and predictions of over 1,000,000 units in 1971. Sleds sales were doubling every year from early sixties. Not bad since sled sales were in single digits when we got our first real recreational sled from Polaris in 1954. Fantastic growth from 1954-1970 with 100+ manufacturers.
Sales are off the fast track because they don’t market sleds to the middle income bracket now it is sold to the 1%ers only.
Much smarter to go after the Ford buyers vs the Ferrari buyers. Proven historical fast track success vs dismal out look over the last 35 years.
Trails and club volunteers s are disappearing because landowners and volunteers don’t want to have trails only for use of the 1%ers.
Need to go back to marketing affordable sleds geared for the middle class market before it is too late.
Yes you can spend a lot of money on a new sled but I think you are being too hard on the manufacturers. I admit I am a Ski-doo guy so that is where most of my knowledge is and I think Ski-doo has been offering some reasonably priced sleds, especially trail type sleds. January and February in Minnesota’s Twin Cities area there was some GREAT deals on remaining 2024’s. I know pricing did vary greatly from dealer to dealer, but you could get a 600 Etec 129 or 137 with electric start, reverse and many bells and whistles for about $11,000 to 12,000. Closer to $11,000. 850’s weren’t all that much more. Those are really great trail sled for the money.
Doo killed the only affordable to the working class sled few yrs back yeah they still sell it with a 4st that only people who don’t know sleds buy . The 600carb was the tix for mix of affordable and power and longevity.
Speaking from the dealer perspective, the sled companies for the past 15 years have crammed the dealers with stock. And the companies have not given the dealers much help in relieving the dealers of stock ,thus forcing the dealers to buy any remaining Floor Plan inventory if they want to stop paying the interest on the unsold inventory! Overall the Powersports industry is in sharp decline. Customers don’t support the brick and mortar stores. Only when there is a problem and the customer needs the dealer to do factory work do they come to the dealer. Worse yet they will call the dealer and tie up the phones trying to have their machines diagnosed over the phone. The dealership is not making any money for the call. ( most people don’t call a car dealership looking for free diagnostic advice when they do they will be asked to make an appointment! Also if it’s warranty work the company does not pay to pickup the vehicle to get it to the shop! That responsibility rests on the owner!) If you look around many, many long time dealerships have to stop the bleed and have closed their doors! Look around especially here in the Northeast How many have shut down in the past 5 years ? I consider myself an old diehard @ 70 years of age, I still own a great used sled but in the last 2 years I have only rode once. we have gone through these periods before with low snow in Central NY. I don’t enjoy trailering my sled anywhere and I remember seasons when my 2 sons and my wife and I each had our own sleds and we could get 2 to 3 really great seasons of riding in! Those were the days!
MY2026 will be higher than MY2025 after JD buys AC as consumers trust JD and not Textron. JD/AC sales will at least triple in MY2026.
Sales in Russia dropped to 0 because of the 2022 invasion (not 2014), because that’s when the trade sanctions were levied.
Oh, and all that extra demand suddenly popping up all over the world? Most of those sleds are headed to Russia via other countries, bypassing sanctions.
Sales did dip in 2014 with first Russian invasion, when they should have been stopped as it would have avoided 2022 invasion. Notice big dip (green chart) in sales from 2014 to 2015. Much worse since 2022 because of sanctions on Russian Oligarchs world wide.
Bad winter is cause of a few bad years of sales from 1970 to present but real the decline since 1970 is due to change in marketing to wealthy customers form average middle class and working class population. This has to change for the industry to survive. They still can and should make the uber expensive sleds for a very small declining market but need to make affordable sleds like they did in the past (1965-1995) for the real profits that will sustain the industry. The McDonald’s model makes more money worldwide than a 5 star restaurant.
IMO All 3 manufacturers will be doing a refresh to 700 cc motors which is an update to the main 600 cc motors in the 1990’s to 2010. There were great 700 cc motors in that era as well but the meat of the market was the 600cc, IMO the meat now will be the 700 cc motors as it will be a much better price point for almost as great as performance as the big 850s which they can sell and even increase the price for the few who will buy the most expensive sleds in the market.
The 700s will be the new 600s of the past, the majority of the market which will allow the continuation of the ever shrinking market of the uber expensive top of the line 850 -900 turbo’s and allow the manufacturers to increase the prices of the top line sleds even mores.
SLeds will be in three cc ranges shortly 900 (muscle sleds), 700 (performance sleds) and 500 (family and starter sleds) a 200 cc difference vs the 100 cc difference historically.