Bad News / more Bad News - RV Sales.

[Iamsparta]

Does anyone know how far factory deliveries got delayed? Shutdown was about 6 weeks so I'm assuming that would be the delay? Unfortunately Grand Design customer service is not much help.

[geotex1]

Ok, first, I did not read the full thread, but wanted to comment that I have seen a number of the totally new to camper towing here in PA the past two weeks... The most alarming was the family in a butt dragging Escalade with a roof rack full of children's bicycles and a 26 ft HTT, no WDH, and passed me and I was cruising at 75mph in my 37 Chevy! PA temporary tag so it was sold by a PA dealer... Saw another that got himself into a fuel station pickle, but I stopped and convinced him to unhitch, change the angle of his TV and rehitch so he could drive it out. He said he NEVER towed anything before, and he dove in with a bunkhouse TT!!! Keep your experienced eyes peeled folks for safety, help where help will be accepted, and swear quietly to yourself when your favorite CGs are overrun. The herd will thin again with time, but I do like families trying to grasp family time camping! There's just a bit of shortage of knowledge and best practices...

[Wicked ace]

I was watching the replay of Mad Money and Cramer had the CEO of Thor on. Bad news and more bad news.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/08/ceo-...-pandemic.html

[Gary Davis]

Agree with / ft4now. Many good deals coming.

[NanaWells]

Looks like a good time for us to upgrade our gear and do a lot more boondocking, the campgrounds are going to get crowded

[geotex1]

Looks like a good time for us to upgrade our gear and do a lot more boondocking, the campgrounds are going to get crowded

Oh yes they are! We decided to camp near Gettysburg the last 4 days. The campground was packed Friday and Saturday and now is a ghost town. So many new rigs!!! We had a nice family come in along side us with a brand new Rockwood bunkhouse and had more gear than a Camping World store! They were literally burning the Amazon boxes in the campfire after opening them!!! Oh well, they were both Veterans and had some great kids! We really had a laugh by the fact that an RV salesperson was camping here and advertised himself all over his campsite and TV. Lol

[NanaWells]

There goes the neighborhood 😂😂

[FreddieMac]

Oh yes they are! We decided to camp near Gettysburg the last 4 days. The campground was packed Friday and Saturday and now is a ghost town. So many new rigs!!! We had a nice family come in along side us with a brand new Rockwood bunkhouse and had more gear than a Camping World store! They were literally burning the Amazon boxes in the campfire after opening them!!! Oh well, they were both Veterans and had some great kids! We really had a laugh by the fact that an RV salesperson was camping here and advertised himself all over his campsite and TV. Lol

This is awesome, that sounds great. The more people that RV the better it is ultimately is for all of us that RV. There is no telling what will get someone interested in the activity. I fell in love with the idea of RV by watching Charles Kuralt on Sunday mornings and as an escapist idea. I was a small kid that got bullied at school. Every morning on the way to school one of the stops was across from the street where the only RV I ever saw was in my neighborhood. This is the early 1980s, I never got to see the front of the RV, just the back with the Fort Wilderness tire cover and all the travel stickers. You can go a lot of places in your imagination in a magical Rv. Fast forward 40 years and I am chasing those 8 year old's adventures in my own way.

[Grammy&Grandad]

Does anyone know how far factory deliveries got delayed? Shutdown was about 6 weeks so I'm assuming that would be the delay? Unfortunately Grand Design customer service is not much help.

We ordered our Solitude on March 12 with an estimated 10-12 week production schedule. After Winnebego shut plants and then phased reopening, we were told that they would prioritize customer ordered units over resumed regular production. Our unit was born on June 15 and arrived at the dealer 3 days later. We are still waiting to pick it up due to backlog of PDI / delivery appointments. So overall, our actual build got delayed about 3 weeks.

[tombarnum]

Wholesale RV Shipments May 2020
..................May 2019....May 2020....YOY Last Year
All Towable RVs.....34,952......24,790...........-29.1%
All Motorhomes.......4,886.......3,209...........-34.3%

I assume this is shipments to dealers, not dealer sales to customers. Sales are way up from April, but down overall. I'm guessing manufacturers had stock to ship that was built before the shutdowns. As that stock sells out, some models may be harder to find on the dealer lots in July as manufacturers continue to ramp up production to meet demand.

That said, I'll bet current RV owners will be using them a lot more this summer, especially weekends, making it harder to get reservations.