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Old 08-09-2021, 04:51 PM   #1
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June RV Sales Decline

There have been discussions of a possible sales correction following Covid peaks, and this may be a sign that it’s starting. Or do you think it’s a temporary pause, or slow down?

Title puts nice positive spin on what looks negative to me.


https://rvbusiness.com/ssi-63246-ret...est-june-ever/

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Old 08-09-2021, 06:09 PM   #2
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Imagine how much money Thor might have borrowed against their Polly Anna backlog prediction.

Or not.
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Old 08-09-2021, 07:02 PM   #3
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I think things are finally starting to correct. I mean people can be expected to pay msrp only for so long before they get wise to the situation. I just feel bad for the ones that did.
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Old 08-09-2021, 07:07 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by ducksface View Post
Imagine how much money Thor might have borrowed against their Polly Anna backlog prediction.

Or not.
Thor’s backlog is on actual orders and not based on predictions. Thor may have borrowed but it should not be a lose. The losers will be the dealers with all the unsold inventory.
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Old 08-09-2021, 07:14 PM   #5
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Thor’s backlog is on actual orders and not based on predictions. Thor may have borrowed but it should not be a lose. The losers will be the dealers with all the unsold inventory.
I'll buy that.
We once had a new car on the lot that had a third birthday.
The flooring on it was 18% annually.

Anyone know flooring rates on rv's these days?
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Old 08-09-2021, 07:42 PM   #6
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I'll buy that.
We once had a new car on the lot that had a third birthday.
The flooring on it was 18% annually.

Anyone know flooring rates on rv's these days?
It use to be that no trailer left the Airstream delivery lot unless if was fully payed for. When Thor Industries was formed, it adopted the old Airstream policy no finance policy from Beatrice Foods. As of 2018, the last time I visited Thor MC and Entegra, that was still the case. Dealers do their own predelivery financing and Thor MC, as well as other divisions do help in finding dealer financing for new dealers. Thor Industries policy is still not to force unordered RV on their dealers. If the plant runs low on orders the work hours and overtime are shortened. Plant 750 simply went to a four day work week and 8 hour shifts in 2016 when sales dropped. Now plant 750 is on 10 hour staggered shifts with Saturday as part of the work week.
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Old 08-09-2021, 07:47 PM   #7
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It use to be that no trailer left the Airstream delivery lot unless if was fully payed for. When Thor Industries was formed, it adopted the old Airstream policy no finance policy from Beatrice Foods. As of 2018, the last time I visited Thor MC and Entegra, that was still the case. Dealers do their own predelivery financing and Thor MC, as well as other divisions do help in finding dealer financing for new dealers. Thor Industries policy is still not to force unordered RV on their dealers. If the plant runs low on orders the work hours and overtime are shortened. Plant 750 simply went to a four day work week and 8 hour shifts in 2016 when sales dropped. Now plant 750 is on 10 hour staggered shifts with Saturday as part of the work week.
A more productive system would be to shift production to another item in demand, and keep your workers fully employed. That's why we have "shortages"... poor planning.
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Old 08-09-2021, 08:21 PM   #8
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The one area where Thor seems to have improved greatly compared to competitors is in Class B sales volume, which happens to be the only segment that increased in June.

A few years back Thor had very little Class B market share, limited mostly to Airstream van campers, which were incredibly expensive, large, and not really set up for camping.

In recent years Thor have introduced many Class B models, and many are built on ProMaster chassis which keeps price lower. Thor is now in second place with 30% market share, and moving closer to Winnebago’s first place.
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Old 08-09-2021, 09:45 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by Chateau_Nomad View Post
A more productive system would be to shift production to another item in demand, and keep your workers fully employed. That's why we have "shortages"... poor planning.
Each of Thor Industries factories produces only one product line except for custom products like Thor MC 850. Plant 750 does batch production, but they produce 10 ACEs and 4 Freedom Travelers for each Windsport/Hurricane. They do not have the equipment, parts, manpower, space or the knowledge to produce another type of coach. Same for the Entegra Luxury Diesel Coach factory, while technically part of Jayco. they use Spartan chassis which are not uses on any other of Jayco's products.
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Old 08-09-2021, 10:43 PM   #10
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A more productive system would be to shift production to another item in demand, and keep your workers fully employed. That's why we have "shortages"... poor planning.

Employees could be retrained and moved around in some cases, but if peaks and valleys in RV demand occur across most brands and models at same time, then it wouldn’t make much difference anyway. I expect that when the economy slows down, or there is a Covid pandemic, etc., it affects most plants similarly, whether up or down. Obviously, one would expect some variations. Just my 2 cents.
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Old 08-09-2021, 11:02 PM   #11
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Employees could be retrained and moved around in some cases, but if peaks and valleys in RV demand occur across most brands and models at same time, then it wouldn’t make much difference anyway. I expect that when the economy slows down, or there is a Covid pandemic, etc., it affects most plants similarly, whether up or down. Obviously, one would expect some variations. Just my 2 cents.
If Thor has bodies standing around, invest in them... start buying equipment and train those employees to make the components others can't seem to produce... water heaters, air conditioners, etc. Be an innovator!!
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Old 08-10-2021, 12:15 AM   #12
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Originally Posted by Chateau_Nomad View Post
If Thor has bodies standing around, invest in them... start buying equipment and train those employees to make the components others can't seem to produce... water heaters, air conditioners, etc. Be an innovator!!
And what makes you an expert on what Thor should or should not do? How long have you worked for them or been any type of consultant to the RV industry.
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Old 08-10-2021, 12:45 AM   #13
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And what makes you an expert on what Thor should or should not do? How long have you worked for them or been any type of consultant to the RV industry.
Maybe that's the problem... too many tunnel vision "experts" have lost their creative/critical thinking skills. It certainly doesn't take an expert to use basic logic to solve simple problems. But it does take courage and innovation.
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Old 08-10-2021, 06:43 PM   #14
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wait i have a can of gas


just kidding


we bought our tuscany in apr of 09, it was built late 07


economy fell apart and thor bought damon and damon made a killing


all the damon inventory was to be sold well below msrp to purge the inventory
we practically stole it from our dealer and they even gave us money afterward as a thank you 4500.00 dealer rebate something

our unit sat inside the showroom for over a year , with one trip to a local rv show (DALLAS)





i desire a new motorhome, i am betting this time next year it will be a buyers market again
there are starting to be more and more 1 to 2 year old units popping up again, very lightly used on the lots around here.


this time i think a smaller unit or even a towable, we just dont travel as much as we once did.
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Old 08-10-2021, 08:04 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by Chateau_Nomad View Post
If Thor has bodies standing around, invest in them... start buying equipment and train those employees to make the components others can't seem to produce... water heaters, air conditioners, etc. Be an innovator!!
In theory it is a nice thought. In the real world it ain't gonna happen. The costs associated to retool a factory to go from manufacturing RV's to producing water heaters or air conditioners or anything other than another variation of what they already produce prohibit such a move even if the workforce was willing to doing it.
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Old 09-13-2021, 04:26 PM   #16
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Recent trend seems to be continuing, with July registrations down considerably for As and Cs. Class Bs were essentially flat compared to July 2020.

Thor market share is holding up well, and Class B market share seems excellent considering how low it was a few years ago.

What amazes me most is that Class B registrations were so close to Class As for July 2021.



https://rvbusiness.com/ssi-july-2021...53985-down-25/



Class A down 38%

Class C down 36%

Class B up 1%
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Old 09-13-2021, 04:58 PM   #17
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Folks are realizing that RVs are not a true solution...
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Old 09-13-2021, 05:26 PM   #18
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I have a feeling a few poster have never had to make a choice between groceries for the family or paying rent...

Put yourself in the shoes of those (likely below living wage) workers building those coaches you now enjoy. You get a pink slip because your employer chooses to temporarily stop producing a particular "widget". There's a million excuses why they choose to do that, all as absurd as the next.

I once worked for a private company as skilled labor. If you weren't busy, there was ALWAYS a floor to sweep or a dirty toilet needing cleaning. There were shelves to organize... walls to paint. Hell, some guys even replaced windows! That company is STILL in business today - going on 60 years. So PLEASE don't tell me how Thor (or any company) isn't managed well enough to do this... the ONLY excuse is lack of courage and laziness. There... that certainly didn't take a PhD to figure out!

Tunnel vision often comes from "government sponsored" contract based employment where the teat is always full. The majority of America's workforce doesn't have that luxury, but wind up footing the bill for those who do. Many of these contract employees seem to forget who is paying for their livelihood. There should be a day to thank those workers for footing the bill... oh that's right - there already IS one!!
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Old 09-13-2021, 06:12 PM   #19
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So after readking your post three time: I'm still confused...
Are you for... or against: unskilled labor doing a lousy job of putting things together?
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Old 09-13-2021, 06:19 PM   #20
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So after readking your post three time: I'm still confused...
Are you for... or against: unskilled labor doing a lousy job of putting things together?
Yes.
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