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| March 2002 | Volume 27 - Number 8 | |
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These are the latest figures available. December 2001 The Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) reports that final quarter shipments showed marked improvement raising the 2001 totals for RVs to 256,800 units, substantially above earlier estimates and slightly above the ten year average for all RVs. Still, totals in 2001 were 14.4% below the year-earlier results as a sluggish economy and dealer inventory reductions reduced wholesale shipments for the second year in a row. Despite the presence of recession announcements in December, RV shipments rang up an impressive total. Overall, shipments were only 400 units behind the same month last year, with motorhomes slightly ahead.
Confirming that a recovery may already be brewing, the University of Michigan's Consumer Confidence reading was measured at 88.8 in the December survey, up from 83.9 in November. These improvements may well signify the worst is over for this cycle but much more needs to be done to encourage consumer optimism. "These recent gains were primarily concentrated in consumers' expectations about future economic changes," reported Dr. Richard Curtin, director of the survey. "Importantly, consumers were less pessimistic about continued increases in unemployment, and expected somewhat larger income gains and continued low inflation during the year ahead. Results of manufacturer surveys confirm that retail sales were much higher than wholesale shipments throughout 2001. Each category reported wholesale shipments at or below the level of retail sales as compared to this same period of the prior year. Towable RVs Shipments of all towable RVs were 12,500 units in the final month of 2001, off just 3.8% from this same month one year earlier. Conventional travel trailers and folding camping trailers were slightly behind, while fifth wheel trailers and truck campers were even with December 2000. For the year as a whole, totals reached 207,600 units, off 13..2% but definitely on the move up. In the final quarter, wholesale shipments of all towable RVs were just 7% behind the final quarter one year ago. Motorhomes Motorhome shipments have made the greatest improvements recently posting positive shipments in the final two months of 2001. Totals in December were measured at 4,000 units, up 2.6% from December 2000 and up 14% from November. These late year gains helped hold motorhome declines to 19.2% for the year on shipments of 49,200 units. Type A motorhomes finished the year at 33,400 units, their lowest level in five years. Importantly, conventional type A motorhomes on diesel chassis were just 11% below their totals from 2000 with gasoline chassis motorhomes shouldering the biggest decline. Conversion Vehicles This was certainly a difficult year for the conversion vehicle business. Wholesale shipments declined 45.7% for the year with pickup truck conversions off more than half. It's important to note that conversion vehicles also did better, relatively speaking, in the final quarter aided by reduced interest rate financing. Van conversions have shown the greatest improvement, gains that should continue into 2002.
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