SidecarFlip wrote:
Don't forget, the old units are falling by the wayside, being converted into hunting cabins or dismantled and landfilled.
Ala Greg Gerber @ RV daily report......
"According to the RV Industry Association’s market data and trends, there are 9 million RV-owning households in America today.
Funny thing is that a 1997 report from Dr. Richard Curtain claimed there were nearly 9 million RV owning households. By 2001, that number dropped to 7 million. But, in 2011, Curtain claimed there were again 8.9 million RV-owning households – which he described as “the largest number of U.S. households ever recorded that owned an RV.”
So, there were 9 million RV owning households in 1997, and 9 million in 2011 and 9 million today. This despite the fact that, using RVIAs own shipment numbers, there were 5.7 million new RVs built between 1997 and 2015.
Yes, a whole bunch of RVers upgraded their units during that time, and some more than once. But the used RVs didn’t evaporate, did they? One would assume that people bought the previously owned RVs and added to the number of RV-owning households.
But, if there are just as many RV-owning households today as there were in 1997 — despite the flood of 5.7 million new RVs into the market during that time — then there were a heck of a lot of RVs junked in 18 years."
Selling 40 or 50 thousand more RV's than were sold in 2006 or 1978 in 2016/17 is hardly a boom IMO. Especially when you take into account the years in between and the cyclic nature of the RV Industry or the fact that US population increased by at least 54 million in the last 20 years.
430,691 in 2016 and the RVIA is projecting 438000 for 2017. As of end of September the numbers were at 378000. Hitting the top of the curve possibly?
IMO it's all a drummed up load of BS from the RVIA like their GoRving campaign. They fail to mention the RV Industry's make the money while times are good and to hell with everything else attitude / business model. It looks real good on that Going RV television show however lol. They also need to have smoke to blow when the annual meeting takes place regarding BKW, THO, WGO, etc. That is until the house of cards comes crashing down and it will.
