Who's Looking Out for Our Interests?
As a group of people that have a single interest at heart (RV's and all that goes with that term) It seems to me that we are terribly under-represented in the halls of government and with almost no cl...
Forum Discussion
BurbMan wrote:
It is very tempting to compare the RV industry to the auto industry, but they are apples and oranges. The BIG reason: elasticity of demand.
In the auto market, people need cars to get to work. People buy cars when the economy is good, they buy cars when the economy is bad. The car payment is something you fit into your budget like a mortgage. If you are Motor Trend, you can say bad things about cars, it won't stop anybody from buying a car, they just won't buy that one.
Demand for RVs is highly elastic....when the economy slows down, Craig's list is crowded with "For Sale" listings of boats, RVs, etc. When the economy hit the skids in 2008, several manufacturers went under, including the Fleetwood, the largest mfr of towables, and Sunnybrook, among others. For example, look at this list of "orphaned" brands of Toy haulers that are no longer in production, as posted on the Toy Hauler Forum:
Orphaned Toy Hauler Brands or Manufacturers
Adventure Mfg RPM
Aliner Cabin A SUT
Airstream Basecamp & PanAmerica
American Freedom
Ameri-Camp Summit Ridge
Alpenlite Defender
Alfa Leisure Toyhouse
Bigfoot 3000 Motorhome
Carriage C-Force & Carri-Lite
Coachmen Adrenaline
CrossRoads CrossTerrain, CrossFire & CrossForce
DRV Luxury Suites: Full House
Edge Outcast & Rebel
EnduraMax Gladiator
Extreme RV, now Extreme Warrior
Fleetwood Gear Box, Formula, Nitrous, RedLine & Scorpion
Frontier RV Trax
Glendale Titanium MPR
Gulf Stream Bounty Hunter
Heartland Razor
Holiday Rambler Next Level
Host RV
Hyper Lite Trailers
Kaddy Krusier: KDX
KIT Manufacturing, see Extreme RV
Keystone Tail-Gator
Keystone Hornet Hideout
Kodiak Epandable 314
Komfort Karry All
Jayco Talon, Recon & Seneca Toy Hauler
McKenzie Dune Chaser & Dune Seeker
MVP RV EnVy, Vortex & Impact
Newmar X-Aire
Open Range: Rolling Thunder
Pilgrim Puresport
Pony Xpress
Rage'n
R-Vision Boogie Box & R-Wagon
Spirit RV Predator
Skyline RV's Toy Hauler line
Starcraft Rockstar
Sunline Tran-Sport
Sun Valley Rattler
SunnyBrook Titan & Big Dog
ThorCA Tahoe, Vortex & Wanderer Wagon
Travel Supreme Rally Sport
Travel Supreme Mid Engine Diesel Pusher
Travelaire Genesis GW33T (Canadian)
Weekend Warrior now Extreme Warrior
West Coast Trailer
Nobody HAS to buy an RV, it is a luxury item. Manufacturers survive the economic cycles by investing little in plants and technology and selling what they can sell when they can sell it. There is no room for objective "reporting" on deficiencies of brands, all the mfrs have the same skeletons in their closets. If a guy read a bad review on a Ford in Motor Trend, he'll buy the Chevy. If a guy reads a bad review about how an RV is built, he will quickly find out they are all built that way and buy a boat instead.
The hallmark of the RV business is to sell what you can sell when you can sell it, and be sure you have enough nuts squirreled away to survive the long winter when it comes....nobody knows for sure when that will be, but it will come. We can't afford any negative press when sales are up.
I wasnt comparing the Auto industry to the RV industry. I was comparing the different approaches the MEDIA that covers those industries take and how the Automotive press has been successful at taking the automotive industry to task and helping further change and still keep their advertisers vs the RV PRESS which is a complete creature of the industry.
Its an important distinction.
