Just a thought

[BobW]

The last few months, a number of major RV manufacturers and dealers have closed their doors for good.* These RV companies include: Travel Supreme, Alfa Leisure, Winchester RV, La Mesa RV, and National RV. Others are Coachmen Industries, whose sales have declined 40 percent over the past 3 years. and yes, Fleetwood Enterprises, which has posted five straight years of losses, recently sold its Riverside, Calif., headquarters. Even Winnebago, one of the industry’s strongest companies, hasn’t been immune with 8 years of declining losses. And you know all about Monaco's losses. Thor Industries said its earnings in the latest quarter fell 22 per cent. Gas is the real problem here. We have just seen the start. Make you wonder if DT can hold on.

[jack_diane_freedom]

I think the price of gas is a contributing factor but more so is the credit crunch in the US affecting manufacturers, dealers and customers ability to get financing especially manufacturers that have a cash flow problem due to lack of sales.

[bstark]

Pilgrim International announced a day or so ago that it was closing it's doors as well with hopes to re-open at some later date after reorganization which was thesame speech given by Travel Supreme.

Not a good time to be in the RV business for sure. It strikes me that some companies are still thriving, albeit at a slower pace, but still nevertheless selling units. I can't zero in on why the failures are occurring as it doesn't seem to be linked to the quality or cost of the coaches they produced, but, rather their simple bad management practices.