Thor/Heartland buys out DRV

golf_bears wrote:
My guess is in the not to distant future we will see DRV merge into Hartland or vice versa.

There just are too many visible similarities between DRV and Hartland product lines to keep them both in production. The quality issue will resolve itself depending on which product line remains in production.

Thor is looking for more manufacturing space and DRV has a great facility and lots of acreage to expand. Time will tell who survives.

That would be a HUGE mistake. Corporate acquisitions generally include a portion of the purchase price above and beyond the book value of the acquired company for "goodwill" - the positive effect of brand name and reputation in the marketplace. To eliminate the DRV brand would render the halo effect of a premium brand worthless. To merge the Heartland products into the DRV brand would do nothing but dilute the brand. I would think that Thor's marketing personnel have at least gone beyond Marketing 101, but in the RV industry, who knows.....

Rusty