John S.
Northern Virginia
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Joined: 03/22/2002
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Well, we have had a number of manufacturers close down over the last few months. I was ding some channel checking and found that some manufacturers have a full year of production on the dealers lots. If sales are off this make alot of sense but that means other manufacturers will have to shut production down and try to get the numbers on the lots and the numbers behind the fence to line up. I worry we will have further contraction int he class A market. GE has left the market and indicated that the risk reward profile was not favorable. That includes floor planning as well as the consumer market. That will open it up for Bank of America and Key bank and Bank of the West to ramp up further. Now this is going to continue with more manufacturers falling by the wayside as well. It is sad to say but the health of the entire industry seems to be rocky now. The answer is had to figure but we still have too much capacity in the market though the demographics favor the lifestyle.... But at what price? If we see 4 to 5 dollar gas that will hurt the gas market more and then the diesel getting up to 5 or 6 bucks I am sure there will be further issues. THere will be further fall out is all that I am sure of right now. Be very careful buying out there and do your homework on the company as well as the floor plan and insides.
John
2001 42' Foretravel U320
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Ames
South Central Florida
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Joined: 01/05/2001
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Higher end A's do a lot of "custom" ordering. That will help Monaco, Country Coach and other like manufacturers building there are fewer spec units being built.
Richard and Babs and a Bob Tail Cat
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Keith M
Cle Elum
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Joined: 07/28/2002
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Class A rv sales will probably fall in half maybe even less from the highpoint. A lot of manufacturers will go out of business especially ones that cant switch to smaller B+ or higher mpg Class C. People will still retire and travel which is the major force behind Class A sales. However the traveling will look different. The future will be in park models and people who have Class A rigs many will either leave them in one location or split time between two locations. Their could be a very long contraction in Class A sales with park models filling the void. Winnebago and Fleetwood will probably survive but other including Monaco might have a difficult future.
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SCHARLEY
Atlanta, GA
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Joined: 02/20/2005
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Exactly what’s the point behind all this wisamatizing? I guess what I’m asking is, exactly how does all this impact me and my 18 year old rig? 
SCHARLEY
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Badeye
Bonaire GA
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Joined: 03/06/2003
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John S. GE only left the consumer end of the business, not the floorplanning end. They went into the consumer end on a 5 year trial and at then end of the five years decided that they were not number one or two and did not want to stay in the market. So out they are. Plenty of others to take their place so as far as the market overall is concerned, there will be little or no impact.
Badeye
"No one can guarantee success, only effort."
Bob & Fran
2005 Coachmen Sportscoach Elite 40 ft DP
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dav5942
Stuart, FL
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Joined: 05/24/2004
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Like anyone in any business you need to plan for the bad times as well as the good times.
The slow down looks to me to be purely psychological. Anyone spending $100k plus for a Class A will not let an additional $2K(5000miles/year)-$4k(10,000miles/year) fuel expense deter them. If it was that critical don't believe they should be buying a Class A to begin with!
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alcolby
yuma az.
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Joined: 09/20/2004
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I agree mostly, with this. It is not all phycological, there is some solid reasons not to RV, but there are also some reasons to do it.
The point about an extra few thousand for fuel, or not being able to afford a motorhome to start with, has merit.
Al C
dav5942 wrote:Like anyone in any business you need to plan for the bad times as well as the good times.
The slow down looks to me to be purely psychological. Anyone spending $100k plus for a Class A will not let an additional $2K(5000miles/year)-$4k(10,000miles/year) fuel expense deter them. If it was that critical don't believe they should be buying a Class A to begin with!
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rnr42005
melbourne, fl.
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Joined: 09/09/2007
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drove by a giant recreation world sales center today in melbourne, fl. and on their BIG marquee: "4.99% financing". traffic was too heavy to try and see if they said anymore, but........ that rate is FAR from what a "qualified" buyer could get just a few months ago!
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John S.
Northern Virginia
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Joined: 03/22/2002
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Well, I will say that we have not seen the inflation yet in all the goods and services we have purchased yet. Fuel prices are going to raise everything. The fact that they have a years supply on the dealers lots is bad. Even the Big Three do not have that. It is not the interest rates that will determine this but consumer confidence and free cash flow to buy it. I will say that it looks bad for a number of manufacturers. We have too many and too much capacity still. But it looks bad for the industry as a whole right now...
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thunderstruckhd
Ft.lauderdale,Florida
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Joined: 04/24/2007
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Nobody really gets it...
The RV industry is only the beginning, the rising fuel costs and declining economy is effecting a lot more then RVs. I have laid off 2 employees and 5 friends in unrelated jobs are out of work this month alone. If you are lucky enough not to be effected, you are very fortunate.
2006 Allegro Bus, 42QDP, Tag axle, 400ISL.
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