Elkhart RV plant closing

Heiny57 wrote:
I have a Holiday Rambler and have had many issues with it, they needed better quality control. I needed to order some replacement stuff. Maybe I'm to late.

Don't know about the house portion, but if we need parts for the chassis, we are SOL....ASV destroyed all jigs and spare parts they bought for the Roadmaster chassis.

I have a Holiday Rambler and have had many issues with it, they needed better quality control. I needed to order some replacement stuff. Maybe I'm to late.

RobertRyan wrote:

GrandPakip wrote:
Last September, we were in Italy, driving on the Autostrada. In 3 weeks of driving around, I saw maybe a dozen caravans (pulled mostly by Mercedes wagons) and a few class c types

Depends on what part of the year it is. Get the wrong season and you cannot move because of RV's. Every time I have been to the US, I have seen very few RV's. So it depends when you go.

I guess we've been very lucky. We've been stuck behind a caravan once in Scotland, but I really didn't care. Been behind quite a few giant tractors, though. Especially in Ireland, in the early evening, towards the local pub. :)

DiskDoctr wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:
Perhaps this is a good example where so many complain about the "quality" of campers being so cheep but those same people who complain are not willing to pay the price for a higher quality camper. Monaco RV's are not cheep, but they are, what some would call "quality". Quite obviously, those folks who complain about the "lack of quality" are not willing to pay the price for it, causing this company, who do just that, are forced to close down, probably due to low sales.

Talk about S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G without any info to back up the speculation :R. Unless there was some sort of data to support this assumption that I missed.

As a previous owner of a Trail-Lite product, I found it to be more than a stretch,it is hilarious! "but they are what some would call quality". LOL, comedy gold, you just can't make this kind of stuff up.

GrandPakip wrote:
Last September, we were in Italy, driving on the Autostrada. In 3 weeks of driving around, I saw maybe a dozen caravans (pulled mostly by Mercedes wagons) and a few class c types

Depends on what part of the year it is. Get the wrong season and you cannot move because of RV's. Every time I have been to the US, I have seen very few RV's. So it depends when you go.

rbpru wrote:
Given that the Elkhart RV factories are running full bore, this sounds like a poorly timed and poorly planned decision or a abrupt change in management. Phasing out of a model line is normal stopping in mid-production is not.

As a whole this is just a “blip on the screen”, the RV industry will absorb the lost production.

Cheaper units, expensive units and high dollar units are like automobiles, the manufacturers will produce what sells and cast off what does not.

according to the report below, a lack of demand caused them to shut down Monaco's towable division


"ELKHART — The Monaco towable division, which includes Holiday Rambler and Trail-Lite, has been shut down by parent company Allied Specialty Vehicles, RV Daily Report has learned.


Employees at the Elkhart plant were greeted by security guards who would not allow them in the plant or office. A representative from the human resources department was on hand to pass out letters alerting employees that the company was exiting the towable market and offering information on how terminated employees could collect unemployment benefits.


“The plant workers showed up at 6 a.m., and the office workers arrived by 8 a.m.,” one source told RV Daily Report. “No reason was given. But, I have thought for a while that the company would likely shut down the operation.”


He noted that the troubled company lost 14 sales representatives in two years, and the Indiana plant could not get beyond producing only six towable units a day. “The Oregon plant seemed to be doing okay,” he added. “They seemed to build more than the Indiana plant, they shipped more units and they serviced larger dealers.”


It is not known how many employees were impacted by the decision, but one source in Elkhart estimates that 115 people there lost their jobs today, and more positions could have been impacted in Oregon.


Not everyone was anticipating the shutdown. It was reported that ASV had moved employees into new offices to consolidate accounting and human resources just two weeks ago.


John Draheim, president of Fleetwood RV and CEO of the Allied Recreation Group, both of which are controlled by Allied Specialty Vehicles, told RV Daily Report that the move made sense considering the market.

“Monaco’s towable division was very small in the scheme in our whole portfolio of companies. The division represented less than 2 percent of total sales,” he explained. “Our motorhome business continues to improve and the market is getting stronger. We decided we need to focus our resources and efforts on capturing growth in that expanding segment of the market.” "

taken from this link

Jim

DutchmenSport wrote:
Perhaps this is a good example where so many complain about the "quality" of campers being so cheep but those same people who complain are not willing to pay the price for a higher quality camper. Monaco RV's are not cheep, but they are, what some would call "quality". Quite obviously, those folks who complain about the "lack of quality" are not willing to pay the price for it, causing this company, who do just that, are forced to close down, probably due to low sales.

Talk about S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G without any info to back up the speculation :R. Unless there was some sort of data to support this assumption that I missed.

Last September, we were in Italy, driving on the Autostrada. In 3 weeks of driving around, I saw maybe a dozen caravans (pulled mostly by Mercedes wagons) and a few class c types. A couple of weeks ago, going down I85, I saw that many in probably 30 minutes. You hardly ever see a pickup in Europe, nowhere near to what is here, though I just love the three wheeled Piaggios.
According to the last salesman I talked to, the average TT sold here is 30 feet long and 8 wide. Much bigger than anything I saw. Most Europeans love people from the US, but laugh and shake their heads at our seeming excesses. Viva la difference!

Instead of making generic white boxes, which virtually every other maker in the US does, Monaco should have made units similar to those in Europe. The towable market sells far more units than motorhomes, so someone would definitely buy a Euro-style unit with a few slide-outs, especially if it was built well enough to be reasonably leak resistant.

I certanily would buy one, and be willing to spend a little more. But as rbpru states:

Cheaper units, expensive units and high dollar units are like automobiles, the manufacturers will produce what sells and cast off what does not.

people will buy the cheaper ones and then complain when they fall apart before being paid off - think Walmart. The typicl US consumer has sunk their own ship.

Given that the Elkhart RV factories are running full bore, this sounds like a poorly timed and poorly planned decision or a abrupt change in management. Phasing out of a model line is normal stopping in mid-production is not.

As a whole this is just a “blip on the screen”, the RV industry will absorb the lost production.

Cheaper units, expensive units and high dollar units are like automobiles, the manufacturers will produce what sells and cast off what does not.