Market Snapshot

ENTHUSIAST INTEREST IN BODY/AERO KITS EXPLODES IN THIRD QUARTER


For many enthusiasts, body kits are the most effective way to give their stock vehicle a performance stance. Coupled with suspension and wheel/tire modifications, an otherwise nondescript car with factory-intended design is instantly personalized.

In the last six months, enthusiasts have snapped up body kits at a voracious rate. Online auction sales of body kits for cars ranging from the Civic to M3, Camaro to Lincoln LS, are up 76% since mid-April, according to data from Terapeak, a developer of market-focused research software that monitors online sales and auctions.

Sales during mid-April to mid-July vaulted the previous three-month period by a healthy 68 percent, a significant number considering that sales actually dipped from January to March compared to the last quarter of 2006. Sales during the last three months (mid-July to mid-October) are also up over the previous quarter, outperforming the summer months by 4.5%.

Terapeak's Motors P&A Research provides sellers with access to comprehensive research on the past year of online auction data and allows users to get in-depth research reports on the competition and themselves. More at www.terapeak.com/motors.