henrye wrote:

The fundamental problem is that this industry has what is called in business strategy "low barriers to entry" i.e. anyone with a modicum of money can start a company,buy components from suppliers and be in business. Thus pricing is very competitive and usually low margin because these new businesses often have very little understanding of market pricing instead pricing on their perceived costs. Unfortunately, they do not even know how to properly account for their costs; often ignoring depreciation and other costs of doing business. They negatively impact the entire industry. I once had a boss who said the best thing in the world was to have smart competitors. The upshot of this is that these companies have little or no free cash flow and thus are vulnerable to any downturn or unexpected cost.

wazone wrote:

Some motorhome manufacturers have no dealers and do well: Born Free, Lazy Daze, Sportsmobile, etc. These are Class B and C manufacturers, I don't know of any class A that do the same--I wonder why?

JohnnyT wrote:



Travel Supreme as a company had some critical flaws.

Travel Supreme did manufacture a well engineered quality manufactured motorhome. But failed due to a limited dealer network, too rapid expansion of too many models and inconsistent Dealer Support of its dealers.

The rapid expansion model expansion that had poor dealer acceptance siphoned off critical capital.

Poor Dealer Network not just in terms of quantity but also in terms of dealer selection... This issue was compounded when in 2006 Travel Supreme lost number a major dealer the Freedom Roads network of dealerships (CampingWorld). In addition, in discussions with three different Travel Supreme dealers there was some level of dealer dissatisfaction with the sales and marketing support and in particular communications.

Travel Supreme made a fatal error in the rapid expansion of models going from 2 to 6 in a period of three years. Dealer acceptance was poor since in many instances these new models competed with other Brands the dealers were already carrying at the price point that Travel Supreme was attempting to expand into... Carrying the additional model lines for some dealers represented a cash investment in a market and market segments that had signs of being soft. Once the fuel price issue continued to escalate the end was inevitable.

Sadly I think Travel Supreme would have been challenged to survive Sans the Fuel Price catalyst. But I think they could have had they done a better job on the dealer side and not expanded so rapidly.

Travel Supreme was also slow in improving internal processes relative to administrative practices.


JohnnyT

hillndale wrote:



Very good points. The way i'm looking at it is that we can benefit by their underestimated costs by buying an MH that offers the best value for the money. I've carefully compared the specs and features of TS Alante to CountryCoach Intrigue and have yet to see any advantage to the much more expensive CC's. Of course the obvious downside is resale and lack of dealer support but that may be worth it at the end of the day with the savings of 150K.

Sully2 wrote:



Admittedly..the only TS I was ever INside of..and got a $2 tour of was NOT an "Alante" model...but I have seen and been inside more than 1 Intrigue..and I dont believe ANY intrigue SELLS for $150K MORE than a TS.. Compare apples to apples.