RV Business
Kentucky Exposition Centre
Justin Leighty
The RV industry should continue to grow next year, though the market is changing, and if it grows more than anticipated, manufacturers and suppliers — most of them in Elkhart County — won’t be able to keep up.
That was the word at the opening of the 50th annual National RV Trade Show Tuesday at the Kentucky Exposition Center.
This year should finish out with about 10 percent growth, and next year should see about 4.5 percent growth, according to James Ashurst of the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association at the kickoff breakfast. “There’s real reason for the industry to be upbeat,” he said.
Later in the day, the RVIA released numbers showing that so far this year, the industry is up 12.4 percent through October after October posted 31 percent gains over the same month in 2011.
Tim Graber, one of many Forest River executives at the show, said the company is running at summer-like production levels to keep up with demand.
While there are concerns for the industry, like gas prices and the impact federal budget problems will have on consumers, Ashurst noted that 8.5 percent of vehicle-owning households in the U.S. own an RV, a steady increase over the decades.
DEALERS OFFER THEIR TAKES
The recession was hard on the industry, and that’s true for the dealers who connect factories with customers. Even since the rebound, the recession left its mark, said Marlena Siverly of Merritt RVs in Carthage, Ill. “Because of the economy and because of everything, everybody wants something for nothing,” she said, with customers wanting units basically at what they cost for the dealership.
Robert Handy of Wilkesboro, N.C., said his family has been in the business for 40 years. Like Siverly, Handy comes to Louisville and to the open houses in Elkhart County in September.
“That’s where I buy. Most of my buying is at the open house,” Handy said. “I come to Louisville to build relationships,” he said, though he noted that manufacturers were offering good incentives to dealers at the Louisville show. “So far I bought about 10 units, and I didn’t plan to buy that much a few hours in,” he said Tuesday afternoon.
As manufacturers make the RVs lighter, customers want them bigger, Handy said. “The bulk of my business is 30-plus foot. Bigger is better. Probably 80 percent of my business is 35-foot” units, he said.
Jarrod Smith came to Louisville for his first time Tuesday, and the Australian RV dealer was amazed looking at “some amazing, big things,” he said. “A lot bigger than we get back in Australia. He looked around inside an $80,000 fifth-wheel complete with a fireplace and ceiling fan (available from many manufacturers) and a 60-inch television. “Youi’re not roughing it when you’ve got this kind of money and the space to put it,” Smith said.
INDUSTRY GROWTH, BUT NOT TOO MUCH
In a private meeting with eTruth.com/The Elkhart Truth following the breakfast, RVIA head Richard Coon said, “We’ve actually been blessed, I think, as an industry. We had that big surge coming out (of the recession), and now it’s been a kind of a slower, steadier growth. That’s good, actually.”
In fact, Coon said he’s worried about too much demand next year. Despite rapid growth over the last couple of years, “there’s more and more pent-up demand,” he said.
If growth continues at or above 10 percent, especially a 15-percent increase, “manufacturing won’t be able to supply enough product. The supply chain will be really tasked to keep up. The slower growth, something in that 4 to 5 to 6 percent area, over the long haul, in my opinion, is a better plan,” Coon said.