Wednesday, March 04, 2009
IT'S NOT ALL BAD NEWS!
from Michael Eidsmoe of RV Resolve:
We have been reading about some RV companies that have gone out of business. We realize that Monaco and Country Coach may not make it (both have been closed since December). There have been lay-offs and cut-backs at many factories. Winnebago's salaried employees took pay cuts so the hourly employees could stay on the job.
But there are still 55,000 people working in RV Industry related businesses in the RV Capitol of the World: Elkhart, Indiana.
There are many RV companies that are doing OK. Jayco took over Travel Supreme and renamed it Integra. Forest River bought Coachman. Thor Industries (makers of AirStream, Four Winds, Damon, Mandalay, Komfort, Dutchman, Keystone) loaned it's largest dealer network 20 million dollars last month.
So most of the RV companies are going to survive these tough economic times. While sales are down now, the demand for RV's will never go away. Consumers are just waiting. In fact, as soon as people start to get some confidence in the ecomomy and loans become available again, RV sales will be on the way up.
We have been reading about some RV companies that have gone out of business. We realize that Monaco and Country Coach may not make it (both have been closed since December). There have been lay-offs and cut-backs at many factories. Winnebago's salaried employees took pay cuts so the hourly employees could stay on the job.
But there are still 55,000 people working in RV Industry related businesses in the RV Capitol of the World: Elkhart, Indiana.
There are many RV companies that are doing OK. Jayco took over Travel Supreme and renamed it Integra. Forest River bought Coachman. Thor Industries (makers of AirStream, Four Winds, Damon, Mandalay, Komfort, Dutchman, Keystone) loaned it's largest dealer network 20 million dollars last month.
So most of the RV companies are going to survive these tough economic times. While sales are down now, the demand for RV's will never go away. Consumers are just waiting. In fact, as soon as people start to get some confidence in the ecomomy and loans become available again, RV sales will be on the way up.
