Why do people have such large trailers?

4X4Dodger wrote:

colliehauler wrote:

4X4Dodger wrote:
There has been a trend in American Design and Manufacturing for about 15 years or more now to go to bigger and bigger everything.

Furniture, houses, refrigerators, TV's, Stoves even BBQ's have all taken huge leaps in size compared to the 1980's and previously.

So it's natural that this trend has hit the RV world and boy has it.

40+ foot Motor Homes and fifth wheels, huge slide-outs.

Sometimes I watch that big long infomercial called Extreme Motorhomes and just sit slack-jawed as one 40 or 45 foot monstrosity after another that is decorated like a cheap Casino in Laughlin is paraded on the TV.

Want Horsepower? OH get the 500HP Cat!

Everything has gone "Extreme" This is a big part of the answer. And no it wasn't necessarily in response to customer demand. It was one MFG trying to outdo the others to offer something new and different. I think that market was created by the Mfg's.

Yes it is in response to customer demand. They do not build something that does not sell.

As I get older I want things smaller and more easy to manage and maintain.

Like I said earlier they make small campers up to large coaches to fit the needs of the people who buy them. If it didn't sell they wouldn't build it.

Your point is a common one and it is easy to believe this is what is happening. But in reality it's not consumer demand that drives this.

Secondly manufacturers build many many things that just dont sell. All the time. The Edsel, The Pacer are just two big examples.

There was no consumer DEMAND for Henry Fords first Car until he built it...creating demand.

There was NO consumer demand for personal computers until Apple brought out the McIntosh...and still it took years for it to truly catch on and for millions to realize that they "needed" one.

When you are a manufacturer of something as complicated as a Motorhome or a Travel Travel you must start the design process AT LEAST two years before taking it to the first RV Show. There is no way that you can understand what consumers really want two years in advance.

Manufacturers take a chance. They look at the competition and use a lot of intelligence gathered and have to find a way to set themselves apart from their competition. When all the floor plans are so similar and all the designs are so similar the one thing left is BIGGER. And that is how we got here. Once people saw them and walked through them they said...OH! this is great so much bigger and roomier... ie created demand.

Very rarely in business does a new product come to market with already existing demand pushing the process.

You are talking about specific models where I'm talking about small medium and large RV's. If they only sold one size that's what they would build. For years it has been proven that there is a market for all sizes. Some manufacturers specialize in a particular size such as Scamp or egg campers while others build large units such as Newell. My point is there is a market for all different size's if not that segment would disappear.

If you don't think consumer demand plays a big role in what sells tell that to the inventor of New Coke.