Jayco sold to Thor Industries

You can tell how well an over crowded industry works by looking at the TT manufacturers that crashed in the last economic turn down. Most would be only memories had the big two not bought them out.

In a market where all the product are all carbon copies of each other, merging has economic benefits. There are still enough independent folks out there if one insists on something different.

My friends with Airstreams made by Thor have had more than their share of problems mainly due to poor quality and workmanship.

As a past owner of a 2002 Jayco pop-up and a current owner of a 2004 StarCraft Antigua Hybrid trailer, I'm saddened by the news. I'm not saying that other manufacturers' products are not good, but since the mid-70s, I have always found StarCraft and Jayco (then 2 independent manufacturers) to be 2 trustable names in the RV industry. Time will tell if Jayco/StarCraft will remain reliable names in the industry.

rbpru wrote:
Big does not mean bad, most of our large industries, appliance, auto etc. are down to three or four manufacturers plus foreign makers.

That is life in the 21st century.

I disagree with the first part of this.

Big means less competition and that leads to no reason to improve a product. It also means the workers get the shaft.

Though I do agree that is part of life in the 21st century.

I wonder how this impacts Jayco's "equity partner" relationship with Open Range. Supposedly Open Range had cash flow problems and also quality issues and Jayco went in as an equity partner. This was when Open Range changed its name to Highland Ridge RV and voided all of the outstanding warranties on existing trailers/fifth wheels. Is Thor now Highland Ridge Rv's equity partner? Jayco was a privately owned company, apparently the family decided to cash in.

With privately family owned companies the first generation starts the company, the second generation keeps it going and by the time it hits the 3rd generation of family ownership there are too many hands in the pot and they sell the business.

Let's not forget, if it was not for Thor purchasing all the failing TT makers; there likely would be 40% fewer brand choices in the RV market.

Merging and emerging competition are two sides of the same coin. Each having its appropriate time period in the market.

virtually all of our camping friends, including us have thor trailers of one brand or another. All of us are happy with our trailer, all of us have had very reliable trailers.

we all put 10K plus miles/year on the trailers, use them 3 months or more per year.

Don't understand what all the fuss is about personally.

SoundGuy wrote:

2Macs wrote:
If Thor controls the RV industry, it will be bad news for us RV'ers.

Since Forest River (Warren Buffet) is the other major player in the RV industry Thor still has a l-o-n-g way to go to "control the RV industry". :R I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. :W

Time will tell if it's good or bad for the RV industry. In the past Thor has given the division the buying power of a large corporation and the capital for development of new products. A lot of the company's they've purchased would probably not be around if they hadn't.

2Macs wrote:
If Thor controls the RV industry, it will be bad news for us RV'ers.

Since Forest River (Warren Buffet) is the other major player in the RV industry Thor still has a l-o-n-g way to go to "control the RV industry". :R I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. :W

I am sure glad I bought my new Jayco built TT this year before the buyout.

If Thor controls the RV industry, it will be bad news for us RV'ers.