LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

Sweet 16, indeed.

Black Book reported on Tuesday via its latest installment of Market Insights that wholesale values now have increased for 16 consecutive weeks. It’s getting so intense in the lanes that some dealers are fetching better returns in the wholesale space rather than via retailing.

“Despite the limited inventory on dealer lots, many dealers are finding themselves receiving greater profit margins in the wholesale channel as opposed to their own retail lots,” Black Book said in the latest report.

“Armed with the knowledge that their available inventory in the pipeline is extremely limited, remarketers are finding that they are able to continue to raise their floors and hold firm on their set values,” analysts continued. “They plan to accept a no-sale this week with the expectation it will sell the next.”

With that as a backdrop, let’s get into more details of the value climbs Black Book tabulated.

Beginning with cars, analysts said the overall price increase came in at 1.30% with seven of the nine segments generating gains exceeding 1.00%.

While the value increase for compact cars didn’t surpass 2.00% again — rising only by 1.57% — analysts computed the nine-week average increase still is a hefty 2.04%.

And perhaps a glimmer of a slight turnaround at least in one place, Black Book mentioned the subcompact car segment posted a price increase below 1% for the first time since the middle of March.

However, if your potential retail buyers want a more sophisticated vehicle, it’s going to cost more to acquire that inventory, as Black Book noted significant value increases for near luxury cars (up 1.22%) and sporty cars (up 1.24%).

Over in the truck space, prices within all 13 segments moved higher, pushing the overall reading up by 1.12%. Six truck segments jumped by more than 1.00%.

Analysts found another example of how different the wholesale scene is now compared to 2019. Last week, values for compact crossovers jumped 1.86%leading the gains in the truck market. During the same week two years ago, values for those units ticked 0.08% lower.

How about one more? Full-size luxury moved 0.37% higher last week. During the same time period in 2019, those units softened by 0.59%.

And here’s a projection to round out Black Book’s latest analysis.

“New inventory is not expected to see improvement until the third quarter of this year, so values are expected to remain at elevated levels throughout the summer,” analysts said.

Perhaps Sweet 16 will evolve into Tremendous 30 and beyond.