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Is the U.S. RV Industry Prepared for Growth?
By Ed Caudill, Chairman of the Board, Fleetwood Enterprises
(Reprinted with permission from the September 2003 issue of RVBusiness)
 Business and demographic reviews of the recreational vehicle industry predict almost explosive growth over the next decade. Studies such as the RVIA-sponsored University of Michigan analysis, Crowe Investments research and a Bank of America Securities analysis by Bill Gibson predict revenue to double by 2010.
Crowe Investments predicts with reasonable assurance that RV business will grow from nearly $9 billion in revenue in 2002 to $19 billion in 2010.
This growth is based on several visible trends. First is the aging of the affluent “Baby Boomers” into the prime RV-buying segment—several thousand people a day are turning 50. Second, geopolitical concerns are causing more U.S. and Canadian citizens to drive rather than fly when they travel. There is a higher level of desire to see and experience North America.
Additionally, participants in such lifestyle pursuits as racing and off-roading have found that recreational vehicles allow them to expand the time and comfort level so they can enjoy their interests. Finally, sociologists are finding a significant trend of families being more active while spending more time together outdoors.
Can our industry handle this growth?
It would be easy to assess the growth prospects form a purely demographic point of view and sit back to enjoy the ride. If we do, I fear that the great opportunity before us will not be realized. The North American RV business does not appear to have the infrastructure to accommodate the potential number and type of consumers who will buy our products. There not enough service support or ready availability of aftermarket parts.
There may be limitations for storage of all of these units. There may even be shortages of parks and campgrounds for RVers to visit. At the same time that we expect more RVs, consumers are purchasing longer vehicles with more slideouts. And so we need not only more storage areas and parking spaces, but larger ones.
Looking deeper into these issues we can begin to gauge the depth of the concerns. RV parks and parking spaces for longer vehicles (over 24 feet) are already an issue. Many RV parks cannot handle a unit over 36 feet in length. Many have implemented length restrictions. This pattern of length restriction is not only prevalent at private parks, but also at public campgrounds. Many facilities now have overall restrictions at 36 feet.
The issue of parking at popular tourist attractions is also becoming more of a problem. Recently, on a day trip to Monterey, Calif., I belatedly found out that public parking lots at The Wharf limited motorhome lengths to 24 feet. Unfortunately, I was in a 33-foot-long motorhome. If we do not work with RV property owners and government-owned parks, we could be constrained from meeting customer wishes for longer trailers and motorhomes.
Of a more disturbing nature is the lack of a national service network to support recreational vehicle customers. Most of our customers are used to finding product support within 30 minutes of their homes. Automobile and heavy-truck owners have such a network and expect the same from RV manufacturers.
If customers can find service centers, many are incomplete in what they can provide. A customer almost always must go to a separate entity other than the dealer for power train and chassis work because most RV manufacturers have left the support of chassis, power train, tires and other components to the suppliers of these products.
Our current and future customers find this situation intolerable. Comments such as “it took 15 days to get my coach repaired” are unacceptable for our industry. Service, quality and lack of service availability are among the primary reasons why customers leave our industry and move to alternate entertainment, such as boating or a second home. We must work together as OEMs, dealers and suppliers to overcome these serious impediments to our growth.
Berthold Brecht, the 20th century German playwright, asked a defining rhetorical question which we should all consider in his poem, “The Questions of a Reading Worker.” He asked, “Who built the seven gated Thebes?”
Taking the questions allegorically and answering them, tens of thousands of people built the “seven gated Thebes.” Similarly, it will take our entire industry to meet the needs of our customers of the future. We have two excellent industry associations, RVIA and RVDA, that can lead us to define the requirements to enable this incredible growth.
Potentially, Fleetwoood would be willing to join an effort to support such as investigation. We have no “pat” solutions or answers to these issues. We are at the same place as Brecht’s “Reading Worker” at the end of his poem—“So many reports! So many questions!”
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