Greg Gerber posted on November 18, 2008 19:15
CYBERSPACE -- In a two-part series called Humpty Dumpty off the RV Wall appearing at rv.org, blogger Connie Gallant has provided a summary of the demise of all the major RV manufacturers which have gone out of business in the last several years.
"For about a decade, we've all watched the RV industry sitting on the edge of the wall like Humpty-Dumpty. Although it tottered a number of times, it took the closing of Trail Wagons, a high-quality builder of Class C's in Washington State, to turn the tottering into a slight tremor. Then came the closings at Sunline Coach, National RV, and Western RV — and the tremor turned into a real shaking. Even as Humpty-Dumpty was holding on tight and trying to figure out what was happening, Travel Supreme suddenly disappeared and Alfa Leisure followed on its tail. Now Humpty-Dumpty is looking at the ground and really wondering what will happen if the shaking gets worse.
"Humpty-Dumpty might or might not fall. Much depends on the politics of fuel prices and demographics. If the big fall happens, what then? Can we salvage some of Humpty-Dumpty? Is there any way we can prevent the big fall? These are the multi-million dollar questions that face the RV industry—questions that most of us don't have a clue how to answer.
"Although gas prices and credit problems have been used as standard excuses for the present chaos in the RV industry, it's clear from the following examples that other factors were in play before the current economic problems reared their ugly heads. Overextension and undercapitalization were the actual culprits — and the increasingly dismal economic climate provided the extra push that has toppled Humpty Dumpty from the RV wall.
"As consumers lose their homes/properties and are forced to live in an RV, the trend will be to buy used instead of new — and avoid the warranty woes that will increase with the closures of more RV manufacturing plants and dealerships."
To read Gallant's blog, click here.