Thor/Heartland buys out DRV

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:

cdlaine wrote:
I'm sure I don't understand all the issues...but, doesn't it seem like 47 mill. is undervalued for the purchase price of one of the RV industry standards for "nice" motorhome manufact. ??? With out looking at looking the data spreadsheet...just going solely on my RV storage facility ,...sure seems like a lot of their high end units have been sold. I would assume that 47 mill. includes the name, plant, inventory, distribution, subsidiary contracts, rights, staff, proprietary items...etc. , would seem a bargain for Thor ???

For ever DRV sold, there are two or four dozen other units sold in price ranges from 50 to 25 % of the cost of a DRV.

Frankly, only a small percentage of the 5er market can afford a 5er that costs more than $100,000.

Looking at storage locations doesn't really show a broad picture of the 5er market. Folks with cheaper rigs find cheaper storage locations. Folks with exensive rigs pay for storage with covers, better security, etc.

One thing that I've watched over the past couple years in Texas is a significant increase in the number of DRV units on dealer lots. One of the complaints about a DRV three years ago was the length of time someone had to wait for their unit be built.

The number of unit sales has increased in recent year, but the size (and cost) of the inventory sitting on dealer lots - has more than eaten up any extra profit from those additional sales.

It doesn't take a huge amount of money to get into a business and build a high quality product. It takes incredible amounts of money to move that product from a basically custom manufacturing operation to a scaled up national level ready for immediately delivery operation.

Recent article (like, today) that said that Airstream is about 3 months behind in production, which is why they're upping capacity by 50%. Could simply have been that DRV chose to build quality instead of quantity. I've worked in the high-end watch business for 15 years and there =are= people who will wait literally =years= for the chance to pay upwards of a million dollars for a new piece. An extreme example is Patek Philippe's newest Grand Complication. A total of 7 pieces are being made; one for the Patek Museum and 6 for sale...at about $2.6 million each. Delivery time for the production model is expected to be upwards of 8 years. All 6 are already under deposit or fully paid for. For people to be impatient for a measly $100k RV that takes a few months to build? :-)

Lyle