Excel Closing Its Doors

drfife wrote:
The vast majority of Excels were custom orders.

Dealers did not like carrying inventory that was for customers to look at but not buy.

DRV is the same with mostly custom orders but dealers stock units to look at.

Excel did not produce many units per year and their dealer network was poor. They did things that few other manufacturers do such as make their own mattresses and upholstery, items that are time consuming and are better off bought from companies that specialize in those products. For most of the industry the wood framing is considered archaic and most of the public wants more up to date materials. Also being in Kansas they did not have access to the whole service industry that the Elkhart area provides and there is a lot of employee turnover in the RV mfgs. so it is easy to find experienced help where there are many mfgs.

When I visited the Excel factory I saw things that should not have been done such as using studs that had serious damage to them and using as many as five staples to connect the stud to the top plate. This will weaken the connection considerably. Overall I was not impressed with the tour and ended up buying from the competition.