LAKELAND— On Wednesday, National Powersport Auctions will break ground on its new 140,000 square foot facility in Lakeland.
NPA is an auction house for recreational vehicles, which includes motorcycles, side-by-sides, boats and RVs. The company currently has a Polk County facility at 1655 S. County Line Rd. in Plant City. Tony Altieri, vice president of business development, said NPA's new home on 45 acres at4035 Frontage Road North in Lakeland will be about double the size of the current location and employ about 30% more people than the 24 or so employees at the Plant City site.
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NPA is owned by Copart, one of the largest car auction houses in the world. Altieri said between NPA and Copart, there are a little over 200 auction sites across the country. On its own, NPA moves about 75,000 to 100,000 vehicles a year, Altieri said.
The Lakeland facility will be the 10th and newest NPA auction site.
As an auction house, NPA is only open to authorized dealers, meaning regular Lakeland enthusiasts can't walk into the new facility and make a purchase. But Altieri said 75-80% of the vehicles sold out of its Lakeland facility will stay in the Florida market.
Wednesday's groundbreaking ceremony will kick off about two years of building, according to Altieri.Altieri said by then, the Lakeland warehouse will be sorely needed.
"It's a two-year buildout for us and we're hoping by then that we return to normal levels of inventory, which should provide that we'll grow out of the facility that we're in," Altieri said.
Just like the auto industry, which will add three brand new car dealerships in Lakeland in the next couple of months, the powersport industry has seen a pandemic boom. According to research from Global Market Insights Inc., the powersports market will surpass $50 billion by 2027, which a compound annual growth rate of 4.5% between 2021 and 2027.
The major boost comes from a "psychological shift in what people are spending their money on," Altieri said. When activities were limited during the early months of the pandemic, people turned to what they figured would be safe: the outdoors. A flood of people interested in recreational vehicles has driven a shortage of new and used vehicles, which has shortened the growth of the 86,000 square foot Plant City facility that opened in November 2020.
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"Inventory, especially used inventory, is very very hard to come by," Altieri said. "Withthe pandemic, inventory is at an all time low, so where we think we would've liked to have seen our inventory ramp up much quicker in Lakeland, it's been hindered by the pandemic."
Raw material shortages, changes in logistics, a slowdown in repossessions and the rapid increase in interest haveall driven the inventory problem, Altieri said. He doesn't see the market righting itself for at least another 12-18 months.
While thatmay be bad news for stocking warehouses, it's good newsfor sales. Altieri said the industry is seeing a 25-30% average increase in sale prices, with some vehicles fetching up to 40% increases.
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"While we would love to have more volume, the scarcity of product has really driven prices through the roof," Altieri said. "When demand shoots up 40, 50% in a period of 12 months, the pipeline was not build to supply that much demand that quickly."
While COVID-19 was devastating for many industries, it may have saved motorcycles and other powersports, Altieri said. The industry had basically stagnated, failing to attract new riders and losing enthusiasts for generations. But the pandemic mindset changed that, perhaps for a long time to come.
"The pandemic— it's brought a massive boom of new blood into the industry," Altieri said. "I think we all believe that with this, the long-term trajectory of the industry looks very, very promising as basically, you've got a whole new generation of folks who wouldn't have been exposed tothe sport had it not been forthe change in people's psychology induced by the pandemic."
Maya Lora can best be reached with tips or questions at mlora@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @mayaklora.
