Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperD
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If foreign manufacturers came to the US and do what was done to the auto industry things would change right quick and in a hurry!!!
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It's already happening in my opinion.
I can think of two separate instances where foreign companies are influencing the RV industry -- granted with limited impact initially, but it will continue.
Firstly, when Mercedes brought over the Euro Sprinter vans, there was a sudden switch away from Ford Econoline and Chevy Express vans, making Class Bs more practical and desirable. And if not for higher Mercedes costs, the switch would have been even faster. More recently RAM started importing Fiat Ducattos as ProMasters and with lower cost have taken over a large market share of Class Bs. Ford has responded with Transit van so overall we now have more and better choices for Class B platforms.
Secondly, when Hymer (German company) purchased RoadTrek, they quickly moved to first place in Class B production passing Winnebago. And that segment (still low production volume) is growing faster than Cs and specially As. I expect companies that offer 5 or 6 year product warranty place greater emphasis on a quality build.
Over next 3 to 4 years or so Hymer is expected to introduce small Cs and As to North America, but they won't compete directly with American products due to their much smaller sizes. Regardless, if demand is great enough, maybe that too will force improvement.
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