RVs made in China??
In another thread someone posted the link below about RVs being made ins China. This could or will be a reality? I hope not IMHO. What are other peoples thoughts? There goes a lot of jobs. What...
Forum Discussion
China and Japan are potentially large RV markets, with China now importing RVs from U.S., Europe and Australia. Only recently has an industry developed producing RVs for local consumption.
Japan making their own RVs longer but still imports products (sizes) they don't make themselves. For example, the smaller 13 and 16 foot TTs from Casita, for sell as relatively big TTs in Japan. The smaller motorhomes produced in Australia (often on Japanese platforms) sell as big luxury RVs in Japan.
It makes a certain amount of sense for RVIA to try to bring these markets into the standards program used by the industry in the U.S., especially since companies in Asia are already producing components used in manufacture here.
But that doesn't mean China will suddenly swamp us with "made in China" RVs. Look at the automobile industry. The automobile market in China has been the largest in the world since 2008-2009, with 18 million vehicles purchase in 2010, about 5% of those imported. While this is countered by an equal number of exports to developing countries, we are still not seeing Chinese cars coming into the U.S. Produced using the same automated equipment employed elsewhere, costs are too close to be competitive after shipping.
Where Chinese products have come into the U.S., the driving force has been U.S. (and other foreign) companies outsourcing production. Products imported from China tend to be small, so as to have low shipping costs relative to sales price (computers, mobile phones, auto parts, tires, etc). I think for something like a RV to be successfully exported to the U.S., we would need to be convinced that it has a premium value, so that we are willing to pay more than we would for the domestically produced counterpart.
Japan making their own RVs longer but still imports products (sizes) they don't make themselves. For example, the smaller 13 and 16 foot TTs from Casita, for sell as relatively big TTs in Japan. The smaller motorhomes produced in Australia (often on Japanese platforms) sell as big luxury RVs in Japan.
It makes a certain amount of sense for RVIA to try to bring these markets into the standards program used by the industry in the U.S., especially since companies in Asia are already producing components used in manufacture here.
But that doesn't mean China will suddenly swamp us with "made in China" RVs. Look at the automobile industry. The automobile market in China has been the largest in the world since 2008-2009, with 18 million vehicles purchase in 2010, about 5% of those imported. While this is countered by an equal number of exports to developing countries, we are still not seeing Chinese cars coming into the U.S. Produced using the same automated equipment employed elsewhere, costs are too close to be competitive after shipping.
Where Chinese products have come into the U.S., the driving force has been U.S. (and other foreign) companies outsourcing production. Products imported from China tend to be small, so as to have low shipping costs relative to sales price (computers, mobile phones, auto parts, tires, etc). I think for something like a RV to be successfully exported to the U.S., we would need to be convinced that it has a premium value, so that we are willing to pay more than we would for the domestically produced counterpart.
