And so it goes, the cycle in Elkhart IN

[Teacher_s_Pet]

Thor reports sales and earnings drop, plant extended seasonal plant closures.

[timmac]

Yea John S. you are right about the new trend and I am one of them also, 5 years ago I bought my 08 Bounder 32W with 2 slides and very happy with it and still think its large and could never go larger.

I have talked with many that also have down sized and see the younger/newer RVers in smaller RV's than was even 5 to 10 years ago, the big trend now is buying school busses and converted them, 10 years ago they were frowned upon now its the cool thing to do, my children that are now young adults said my motorhome is lame but think the schoolies {converted school bus} are cool and want one.

Trends are changing fast now and even the internet is killing cable/satellite TV in just a few short years..


:C

[John_S_]

I bought my first coach a Foretravel when I was 39. I kept class a Foretravels for 17 years ending up with a 42 foot double slide. I covered 370k miles in them. Someone called and asked if it was for sale and I said give me a number he did and I sold it. I now have a 29 foot super c style on a F550. I will not have a large coach again. Five of my Foretravel friends also downsized as well. The lure and expense of a large class a is much more then my C. No need to tow but I can tow 12k pounds if I choose. I figure I was early and am early again. I was castigated for saying Fleetwood country coach and Monaco would all go bankrupt. The writing was on the wall. Right now my age group late 50s are not buying big class a units. I think we will have a slowdown followed by a recession. It will get ugly again. Remember when people were selling because of fuel prices. That is minuscule compared to the over supply and poor quality units being put out. The next generation will do their research and some company will step up and have the quality they are looking for infact some are doing it right now.

[sandblast]

Scottiemom wrote:
I just wonder what kind of business plan they have that keeps producing thousands and thousands of units. . . so many that I wonder how they can possibly market them all. We spent the summer in Elkhart and every empty lot around the county is filled with trailers and all manor of RVs. They just overly saturate the market. . . and knowing the quality they put forth, I wonder how many will be worthless after the sit the winter in that field. I just don't see how they can move that many units. Every RV dealer we pass by has a lot full of RVs. It's like they have no clue that the industry has cycles. . . they just keeping building, building, building, until things really slow down. Then they cry.

Dale

Scottiemom Could not agree with you more
.
I to was in the RV mecca this summer and feel sorry for the workers there. The industry cares no more about them than us the consumer.

The rv industry is today`s "used car salesman".
Read, greedy and no respect for there audience.

[rgatijnet1]

Maybe they can ship some of the excess RV's to California to replace some of the 10,000+ homes destroyed by the fires.

[Scottiemom]

I just wonder what kind of business plan they have that keeps producing thousands and thousands of units. . . so many that I wonder how they can possibly market them all. We spent the summer in Elkhart and every empty lot around the county is filled with trailers and all manor of RVs. They just overly saturate the market. . . and knowing the quality they put forth, I wonder how many will be worthless after the sit the winter in that field. I just don't see how they can move that many units. Every RV dealer we pass by has a lot full of RVs. It's like they have no clue that the industry has cycles. . . they just keeping building, building, building, until things really slow down. Then they cry.

Dale

[doc_brown]

steved28 wrote:
I'm not sure about others, but I didn't buy my first "RV" until I was in my forties. Prior to that we were tenting, backpacking etc. So it may be a little premature to predict the Millennial market just yet.

53 for me, still have it.

[timmac]

Just take a look at Craigslist there is a huge number of newer used RV's for sale, this to hurts new sales.

I keep my RV at home but I have noticed here in Vegas places to store your RV is full and I suspect many just want out from under the debt since they dont use it much.

[jplante4]

steved28 wrote:
I'm not sure about others, but I didn't buy my first "RV" until I was in my forties. Prior to that we were tenting, backpacking etc. So it may be a little premature to predict the Millennial market just yet.

63

[steved28]

I'm not sure about others, but I didn't buy my first "RV" until I was in my forties. Prior to that we were tenting, backpacking etc. So it may be a little premature to predict the Millennial market just yet.

[Mile_High]

Winnebago has strategically realigned towards the upcoming mellinials, good or bad. The high end motorhomes are gone, the mid level are now top end and only limited models (Forza, Horizon). Grand Tour, Tour, Journey all Dealer Stock sales only. The focus is on Class B and towables.

[Branson_N_Tucso]

Could be the lousy product they make.

[Bruce_Brown]

SidecarFlip wrote:
All industries are cyclical. Maybe the saturation point has been reached.

Agreed.

There was a lot of pent up money waiting to be spent, which happened starting Jan 2017. Every industry I work with had trouble keeping up with demand last year.

The foolish ones thought it would last forever, they expanded and spent accordingly.

The smarter ones saw it for what it was, a quick release of a bunch of money, and they planned accordingly.

My real job is industrial sales. In 2017 my sales were up almost 30% over 2016. Thankfully I work for a GREAT company who asks us for realistic numbers, not an unrealistic sunshine and roses report. When I did my 2018 sales projections I said I'd be down 20% vs 2017. YTD I'm down 17%.

While things today are certainly better than they were, 2017 was an unusual spending event that was 8 years in the making.

[Stim]

Everytime I drive by an auto/truck or RV dealership I wonder who is going to buy the inventory I see sitting!
Go by any private auto repair shop and there are so many vehicles there that don't seem to be there for repair with many for sale. There is so much used vehicle inventory.
I watch boat ads on craigslist and the prices exceed common sense. A new $10 K boat 10 years ago is selling for $40-50 K now. A friend bought 2 new 300 hp outboard engines, list price was $40,000.

[TheLuvShack]

Many Millennials have the attitude that life owes them something. They go to school on their parents money and student loans, don't work during college and get a degree in a field that leaves them unemployable because it's an easy A and leaves them plenty of time to party. After graduation, they realize their degree is worthless and demand $15 and hour to flip hamburgers. Me! Me! Me! I'm tired of hearing the whining! I'll take my medication now.