Outdoor Power Equipment 2001 Shipments Still Down; Estimates Revised Upward

The 2001 model year of commercial walk-behinds was forecast in April to have a sharp drop in shipments - down 11.1 percent from the 2000 model year - but that estimate has been revised upward to a more modest 1.0 percent drop from last year. The revised estimate now actually beats the 3.7 percent decline in shipments from model year 1999 to model year 2000.

The commercial riding market has also been revised upward. This market segment was expected to grow by 4.3 percent, but has been revised to grow by 5.2 percent compared to the 2000 model year. This moderate increase in shipments is still way off of recent historical growth in the market that showed increases of 24.4 from model year 1999 to 2000, 35.1 percent from model year 1998 to 1999 and 24.2 percent from model year 1997 to 1998.

Revised estimated shipments for the 2002 model year have followed different suit between categories since the April estimates. For commercial walk-behinds, shipments have been revised from a predicted increase of 6.7 percent from the 2001 to 2002 model year to a lower 0.6 percent increase. Commercial riding mowers, however, flipped from a predicted 5.7 percent decline from the 2001 to 2002 model year to a 3.3 percent increase.

For OPEI’s shipment forecast, a model year runs from September of one year to August of the following year. For instance, the 2001 model year includes units manufactured from September 2000 to August 2001.