Thor Forums

[TurnerFam]

someone said it best: it's like having Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury dealers in the same 'area'...though they are all built on the same line at the same place by the same company: Ford.... or you could compare to Chevrolet, GMC, and Cadillac...sometimes all under the same roof, sometimes totally separate dealerships.

Camping World is not going away - the name is too synonymous with 'Camping' and 'RVs' and would certainly be a ridiculous move to 'remove' the name.... now, GANDER is a different story, as that name means nothing to camping or RVing, at least not yet. Overton's is certainly a regional name, maybe to some, but again, means nothing the majority of the Camping and RVing public.

If one of the CW stores, in a certain local area, has several of the 'brands' of RVs, such as Thor and Fleetwood, but not Forest River, then one of the closer 'Gander' or 'Overtons' might have FR.... especially since most 'brands' try to keep a region or area within the scope of only ONE of their dealers, to minimize overlap, and internal competition.

One of our local dealers in N.E. Alabama is a great motorhome-based dealer, while the several other local dealers are more 'camper' dealers, not normally associated with the 'motorized' RVs.
This larger motorhome-based dealer, with a Tiffin and several of the other 'motorized' brands, like Coachmen and Thor, wanted to get the dealership franchise for NEWMAR.
Unfortunately, the dealership next door got it, and they hardly had any motorized RVs before that, but they were a more 'national' chain, and probably had Newmar thinking that it would be best served to allow them to 'compete' with this other, more local, motorized RV dealer, with the other brands.
It makes sense, in one respect, and almost makes less sense in the other.
If a large local dealer has made it a great business with motorized RVs, like the larger Motorhomes, it seems to me that a company like Newmar, maybe the 'highest end' of the motorhome market, would give much credence to that dealer's history and experience.
But, it could also be that Newmar already has franchise contracts with the other dealer since they are more 'national', and wants to preserve that relationship and drive more sales thru their channel.

There's not always a clear reason, to us, why dealerships and even manufacturers do 'what they do', but there is for them - it's always based on sales and profits, not on 'clear reasoning' by the public, though.