Bamaman1 wrote:
Forest River is owned by Berkshire Hathaway--Warren Buffet's huge investment firm. $5 million is a pittance to them. But what's scary is the government getting into the RV business.
The Feds should be more concerned with tire and brake failures currently going on with RV's. And General Motors' defective ignition switch deaths is up to 147 deaths, and I don't see the National Transportation bunch forcing them to ground those vehicles.
We see Camping World going through the U.S. buying large RV dealerships. The dominant RV dealership in Alabama was the first dealer to receive the first Grand Design fifth wheel trailer made, but Grand Design was dropped like a hot potato when Camping World bought the dealership.
Camping World is having serious operational problems at the present time, and who knows what's going on politically within an RV industry that's consolidating fast. If there is any strained relationship between Camping World and Forest River, it will come out. Other than F/R, there is only one company that could supply so many RV's to C/W.
Overstatement, misinformation and Oversimplification in almost every line.
5 Million Dollars comes right off the bottom line which will make Mr. Buffet who oversees the fund very unhappy as he is the one who is most concerned by the bottom line.
The Government is NOT into the RV business. There are Federal Regulations that ALL vehicle manufacturers must comply with. They are not new. FR has been caught. The NHTSA is just doing the job they are by law required to do.
Tire and Brake failures are RARE, VERY RARE incidents. According to the LA Times there are 253 Million cars on US roads in 2014 with an average age of 11.4 years.
The NHTSA says the Tire and Wheel failure or problems cause 11,000 crashes per year. However many of those are attributed to loose wheels. IE human intervention not product defectiveness.
11,000 crashes due to tire and wheel failure is 0.00434%! of the 253 million cars on the road. That is an infinitesimal amount. By any measure blowouts are not causing any big problems.
CW is growing. That is how you increase market share in their kind of business...buy your competition. It's a long held pillar of our cherished Capitalist system. And it works. In that process CW is bound to have to pare down the number of RV lines they carry. They will have to decide on which lines to concentrate on and which to jettison. It does not mean their is any dissension or politics or anything other than pure business economics at work. And further it is exactly what they should be doing under the circumstances.
I am no apologist for GSE. And they are experiencing some growing pains. My judgement is they have some long serving management that needs some refreshing. But on a larger scale their problems are no worse than many companies in their position. I think they will solve these problems and grow successfully. Is the consolidation of the RV industry good for consumers? NO. But it is good for companies.
There are more than 12000 RV related businesses in the US most of them dealers. CW currently has 85 locations. That does not make a monopoly of any description.
Facts may not fit your perceived view of the world and how it works but they are still the facts.
