Sheila Davis at Winnebago said, "Our dealers
were extremely pleased and expressed their
compliments repeatedly on Winnebago
Industries receiving the 2002 Quality Circle
Award from RVDA, as well as our $100,000
contribution to the Go RVing campaign. Their
attitudes were also outstanding. They’ve had a
very good year and are very optimistic that next
year will be as good or better. Due to the popularity
of full-body paint, they were excited to
see us move that option into the mid-priced
diesel Winnebago Journey DL and Itasca
Horizon. In general, our dealers seemed
pleased with all of our new products that were
introduced at the show, including the modified
Minnie Winnie and Itasca Sundancer 30V, the
affordable 33-foot Winnebago Sightseer and
Itasca Sunova, the new Winnebago Adventurer
and Itasca Suncruiser 37C, and the new
Ultimate Advantage 40K triple slide."
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Like other public companies, Winnebago
withheld sales numbers from the show until
their next quarterly public filing.
Airstream displayed two SkyDeck
motorhomes. SkyDeck president, Jim Teeter,
noted, "We are pleased with the response from
the Louisville show and Airstream’s introduction
of both their gas and diesel SkyDeck models.
SkyDeck continues to draw large crowds
whenever the units are on display and
Louisville continued that tradition. There were
people on top of those coaches at all times. We
are constantly striving to meet the demand created
by SkyDeck models and are now looking
at improving production capabilities as well as
some product modifications to meet the
demand of the RV enthusiasts who have fallen
in love with this concept. We are looking forward
to Airstream’s aggressive marketing
approach to our products as well as the addition
of another manufacturer on the West
Coast."
When asked how the show was for National
RV, Matt Howard was pleased to report, "Our
sales were up substantially; slightly more than
double our order intake over last year’s show.
Our lower-priced (not entry level) triple slide
diesel product, the Tropi-Cal, did very well.
Our dealers indicated that there were few good
products in this price range at the show. Also,
our mid to lower priced gas products, Sea
Breeze and Sea Breeze LX, performed very well.
This reflects the pressure dealers have been
getting from customers to offer larger chassis
(W22’s) on lower priced coaches. We revamped
the Sea Breeze with new features and pricing
and, judging by the orders they placed, our
dealers were extremely pleased that National
RV has once again re-entered the affordable
Class A market."
As for the business outlook, Howard said,
"We are cautiously optimistic. Our dealers indicated
that they believe they are going to have a
great 2003. However, they are less inclined to
take large risks and jeopardize the success they
have had in managing their inventories."
Mike Duncan at Monaco reports that, "Our
unit sales on a "like model" basis were up this
year and our orders increased. We’ll put the
exact numbers out at the time of our FY03
earnings release in mid January. Our
strongest orders were in towables
and gas coaches. Our
diesel sales have been strong all
year. 2003 should be a very
good year for RV sales.
Reasonable dealer inventory
levels, good consumer demand
and excellent products. If the
economy picks up even a little
bit, we’ll be in a great position
as an industry."
Fleetwood RV reported that
sales at the Louisville show
were up 27% from last year with
over $110 million in orders written
at the show. Larry Marsh
said, "We were very pleased with
the traffic in the booth. Orders
were almost double last year’s
results and we were able to set
up several new Caravan distribution
points. Bob Thompson
noted, "We made so many
enhancements to our products
this year that it was difficult for
our dealers to see everything in
the short time available. We
expect additional orders to come
in once dealers have a chance
to re-evaluate their product
offerings as a result of significant
changes to the Fleetwood
product line."
Carol Taylor-Clay at
Country Coach said, "For NRV
and CCI, it was a good, positive
show. It definitely surpassed
past years for both companies.
Country Coach had a great
reception for our new First
Avenue Intrigue and Allure, and
in particular, the new 42’
Ovation floor plan. We also
leaked word about a new product
due to be released, the
Inspire. This brand will initially
debut as an entry level, for
Country Coach, diesel unit,
coming in at the $200,000
MSRP mark. Later in the fall,
we’ll release a gas model. The
dealer reception for this was
very good. Our intent is to provide
more of a step-up plan for
our existing dealers so their
customers can get into the CC
product sooner. We are working
to make it a good strong year.
We feel cautiously optimistic
that things will continue to be
strong for the industry as a
whole."
Sporting a new nameplate,
Damon Motor Coach observed
increased dealer order volumes.
Gary Groom said, "We were
extremely pleased with the dealer
response to our quad-slide
Escaper LX-400. Our dealer
order volume was up across the
board, and we had a lot of interest
from non-Damon Motor
Coach dealers who are starting
to notice the product lineup.
The price point on the LX-400,
around $200,000, really caught
their attention and we are making
it available on the
Freightliner XC and Spartan
chassis."
Claire Skinner at Coachmen
said, "We’re very pleased with
this healthy increase in sales at
the Louisville show as we continue
to receive orders."
Coachmen reported that unit
sales during the Louisville show
were up 31% compared to last
year.
Rexhall’s Bill Rex noted, "We
introduced four all new floor
plans, which contributed greatly
to our success at the show."
One of the floor plans was an
innovative, 35’ triple-slide gas
model that includes the entry
door in one of the living room
slides. Michael Bourne said,
"This innovation was the talk of
the show as dealers and competitive
manufacturers spent a
considerable amount of time
reviewing the product. Of
course, we concealed the mechanisms
to make it difficult to
copy, since we are applying for
a patent. When comparing
apples to apples, this year’s
show was the best overall show
ever for Rexhall and by far the
second best in terms of orders
written. This year we have the
chassis on hand and the people
in place to fill these orders more
smoothly and timely than we
did last year."
Gulf Stream has also reported
that dealer orders at
Louisville were more than double
last year’s numbers. Thor
has reported record sales of
$113 million worth of dealer
orders during the show, which
exceeded last year’s volume by
51%.
Total attendance at the
Louisville show was up 14%
over 2001 despite a snowstorm
on the third day of the show. A
total of 12,443 people attended
the show. The number of people
representing RV dealerships
increased 18% to 5,017 people.
Yes, it was a very good
show, and it will be a very good
year.