Golf Cart Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Growth of the U.S. golf facility network: The National Golf Foundation data in 2025 depicts that the golf players in the U.S. is rising steadily, with 47.2 million players in 2024. This data demonstrates that there is a high demand for the golf facilities. The public access courses generally maintain a larger fleet of carts due to the higher visitor throughput, creating a recurring procurement cycle for electric and gasoline carts. Further, the increased participation boosts the cart usage volumes, requiring more frequent replacements. This contributes significantly to domestic fleet demand, mainly for course operators adopting electric carts to meet the sustainability targets. This steady demand from core golf operations provides a stable revenue base for manufacturers, allowing them to invest in the research and development of more advanced models for the higher-growth commercial and personal transportation segments.
• NHTSA safety standards for low speed vehicles: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulates LSV under 49 CFR 571.500, defining required safety equipment for the street legal operation, based on the ECFR report in September 2025. This regulatory clarity enables a broader adoption of street-legal golf cards and LSVs in planned communities, universities, and municipal neighborhoods. As more local governments authorize the LSV usage on low-speed roads, demand rises for compliant carts equipped with mirrors, seat belts, lighting, and safety systems. These regulatory frameworks provide manufacturers with stable design paths and encourage fleet expansion. 
• Federal and local adoption of electric utility vehicles: Government agencies are establishing a substantial non-cyclical market for the commercial electric golf carts. The U.S. National Park Service, for example, extensively deploys these vehicles for maintenance, logistics, and low-impact visitor transport across its units. The data from the NPS in January 2023 shows a concerted effort to green its fleet with over 425 national park units reporting the use of the light-duty electric vehicles, a category that includes the utility carts and LSVs. This public sector procurement is mirrored by the local governments integrating the LSVs into the pedestrian priority zones to minimize emissions and noise. These consistent procurement behaviors driven by the federal and municipal sustainability mandates create a reliable baseline demand for the manufacturers, insulating a portion of the market from the volatility of the recreational golf sector.

Challenges

• High R&D and production costs: Developing competitive and feature-rich golf carts, mainly on electric models with advanced battery systems, requires a huge capital investment. This includes costs for engineering safety testing and tooling for production lines. New entrants struggle to achieve the economies of scale enjoyed by incumbents such as Textron. For example, sourcing lithium-ion batteries that can constitute a rise in the electric vehicle cost presents a significant financial barrier. Startups must either secure substantial venture capital or accept slower, lower volume production, putting them at an immediate price and innovation disadvantage against the established players who have optimized their supply chains and manufacturing processes over decades.
• Intense competition from the top brands: The market is dominated by the legacy brands with a deep customer loyalty and extensive distribution networks. Club Car, Yamaha, and E-Z-GO have long-term relationships with golf courses and commercial fleets, making it difficult for new suppliers to even be considered for large tenders. A new company must compete not just on the price but on superior technology or a unique value proposition, such as Garia’s success in targeting the luxury resort and personal concierge market with the high-end customizable vehicles, a niche it carved out against the giants.