Thor/Heartland buys out DRV

[Travlingman]

Heartland buys DRV

Wonder what the changes will be?

[dapperdan]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Thanks Dan for the eye witness report!

No problem Ron, it was an interesting visit to say the least. The original "DRV" people there aren't overly excited about building Boss TH's.

We took the nickel tour yesterday, lots of new design features. The 2016's are really beautiful, we were able to look in several units. Very nice! They're very busy there too.

Dan

[Cummins12V98]

Thanks Dan for the eye witness report!

[dapperdan]

RustyJC wrote:

retispcsi wrote:
I was at DRV first week in Oct. I was told that the "Boss" was going into production at the DRV factory soon. One big happy family.

Even if that's so, it doesn't make the "Boss" a DRV product.

Not that it's directly relevant to the "Boss", but one reason Thor/Heartland wanted to buy DRV is that the Heartland facilities in Elkhart were landlocked. DRV has LOTS of available acreage at Howe. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see new production facilities added at the Howe campus and different products being manufactured there.

Rusty

We just got back from Howe this evening having traveled there for some service work on our Suites. While there we were told Heartland is going to break ground on a new facility across the street from the DRV plant in early 2016. This new building will host a 12 bay service area, eliminating the existing service area in the "old" building and allow for increased (new) production.

DRV is in fact building Boss toy haulers right now in their plant, our tour guide at DRV told us Heartland wanted to roll out this new product and needed a "temporary" place for the build as they are short on production space at their other plants. Heartland will be building a new plant for Boss and Cruiser RV very soon and at that time the Boss line will be removed from the DRV plant.

Boss is NOT a DRV product! ALL materials used in the Boss production are completely different than what is used to build the Elite and Mobil Suites. They run two separate lines inside one plant right now.

Dan

[RustyJC]

bob34787 wrote:
as with forest river anything thor touches will become a shadow of its former self.

You may be right. Time will ultimately tell....

Rusty

[bob34787]

as with forest river anything thor touches will become a shadow of its former self.

[RustyJC]

retispcsi wrote:
I was at DRV first week in Oct. I was told that the "Boss" was going into production at the DRV factory soon. One big happy family.

Even if that's so, it doesn't make the "Boss" a DRV product.

Not that it's directly relevant to the "Boss", but one reason Thor/Heartland wanted to buy DRV is that the Heartland facilities in Elkhart were landlocked. DRV has LOTS of available acreage at Howe. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see new production facilities added at the Howe campus and different products being manufactured there.

Rusty

[retispcsi]

I was at DRV first week in Oct. I was told that the "Boss" was going into production at the DRV factory soon. One big happy family. Also was told that management has decided to no longer us diamond plate in the Full House. Switching back to paneling it is less expensive. Wonder where else they will cut. Also Tradition was dropped. Competed with Landmark. Things are a changing over there.

[soos]

RustyJC wrote:

throwaway wrote:
still building drvs like before the buyout, New toy hauler model called the boss is like a cyclone though, I beam mains and standard size upper deck so won't have lots of storage space

I'm sorry, but I must be missing something here. The DRV Suites toy hauler is the Full House. It has the 15" stacked triple box section frame just like the Mobile Suites and Elite Suites. I find no reference whatsoever to a "DRV Boss".

Rusty

A google search show that the Boss is a toyhauler built by Cruisers Inc. not DRV.

[RustyJC]

throwaway wrote:
still building drvs like before the buyout, New toy hauler model called the boss is like a cyclone though, I beam mains and standard size upper deck so won't have lots of storage space

I'm sorry, but I must be missing something here. The DRV Suites toy hauler is the Full House. It has the 15" stacked triple box section frame just like the Mobile Suites and Elite Suites. I find no reference whatsoever to a "DRV Boss".

Rusty

[throwaway]

still building drvs like before the buyout, New toy hauler model called the boss is like a cyclone though, I beam mains and standard size upper deck so won't have lots of storage space

[neal10a]

History of Thor subsidiaries:

Recreation Vehicles

Airstream
Breckenridge
CrossRoads RV
Dutchmen RV
Redwood RV
Keystone RV
Heartland RV
Livin Lite RV
Bison Coach

Motorized Recreation Vehicles (Motorhomes)

Airstream
Thor Motor Coach (combined Four Winds International and Damon Motor Coach)

Former subsidiaries

Commercial Bus

ElDorado National (sold 2013)
Champion Bus Incorporated (sold 2013)
General Coach America, Inc. (sold 2013)
Goshen Coaches (sold 2013)
SJC Industries (sold 2013)

[TheAmRheins]

golf_bears wrote:
TheAmRheins,

I'll venture my opinion on your excellent question. Not sure how many of you remember but when Hartland first introduced their product line, some 5-6 years ago, they looked very similar, functionality wise and on the surface (the glitz factor), to the then Doubletree Suite units. My guess is in the not to distant future we will see DRV merge into Hartland or vice versa.

There just are too many visible similarities between DRV and Hartland product lines to keep them both in production. The quality issue will resolve itself depending on which product line remains in production.

Thor is looking for more manufacturing space and DRV has a great facility and lots of acreage to expand. Time will tell who survives.

You have a good point. But maybe a more likely scenario would be to merge only the Landmark and Suites lines as in the past several years the difference between Heartlands Big Horn and Landmark lines were becoming quite blurred.
A Landmark Suite should be a clear cut above the other Heartland offerings.
BTW only the Classic Landmarks (pre 2008) were DRV comparable IMO.

[RustyJC]

golf_bears wrote:
My guess is in the not to distant future we will see DRV merge into Hartland or vice versa.

There just are too many visible similarities between DRV and Hartland product lines to keep them both in production. The quality issue will resolve itself depending on which product line remains in production.

Thor is looking for more manufacturing space and DRV has a great facility and lots of acreage to expand. Time will tell who survives.

That would be a HUGE mistake. Corporate acquisitions generally include a portion of the purchase price above and beyond the book value of the acquired company for "goodwill" - the positive effect of brand name and reputation in the marketplace. To eliminate the DRV brand would render the halo effect of a premium brand worthless. To merge the Heartland products into the DRV brand would do nothing but dilute the brand. I would think that Thor's marketing personnel have at least gone beyond Marketing 101, but in the RV industry, who knows.....

Rusty

[dezl_dr]

Any rep who doesn't act thrilled will be let go quick. Certainly at a show.

It's a loss, other way to see it.