tatest wrote:
time_to_go_now wrote:
kaydeejay wrote:
"When will RV Manufacturers be concerned with quality?"
When more RV buyers are prepared to pay for it, not just the cheapest they can get!!
Does it really cost that much more to do it right? How much more?
Yes, it does. Most motorhomes sell at 1/10 to 1/5 the price it would take to build them as well as the best of our luxury cars. Most buyers are willing to pay $80,000 to $200,000 for a motorized RV, when the bare shell for an equivalent size well engineered and well built motorcoach costs $600,000 to $800,000, and one needs to at least double that to fit out the house to the same quality.
As RV buyers, we are looking for Lexus quality at Yugo prices. We get big Yugos at that price.
The market for RVs (not including commercial coaches for entertainment businesses) at the $1,000,000 to $3,000,000 price point has totaled in the tens of thousands over the past forty years. To sell hundreds of thousands, or millions, they must be engineered to be manufactured at much lower costs. I think most of what we are buying are the equivalent of the Model T, about the best that can be done for what we are willing to pay.
I think most manufacturers are concerned about quality, but they are also concerned about a business model that depends on a large sales volume, so they are constrained by what we are willing to pay.
Newell is an example of the other end of the market. Build for quality, for the few customers willing to pay the price. A few thousand coaches over the past 45-50 years.
Newell is far from immune to problems. I had a guest a few years back with a beautiful Newell. I asked him how he liked it. He said as soon as he was able to go on a trip and not take it back to the Oklahoma factory for repairs, he was going to sell it. Then he told me it wasn't going to be put up for sale after that trip and he fully expected to have it for many more years. What is mainly seen in RVs are one off problems. No amount of good processes can eliminate random errors.
