RV Shipments and Sales Soar

Above, The Beast at Mammoth Mountain RV Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The RV industry has fully recovered from the Great Recession...and then some!

According to Herald Net:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For RV manufacturers, the bumpy ride from the Great Recession has vanished from the rearview mirror as the industry projects shipments to dealers will top 500,000 units this year. 

Manufacturers and dealers meeting this week at an industry trade show in Louisville, Kentucky, are pointing to solid fundamentals including favorable fuel prices, strong consumer demand and available credit as key factors behind the unprecedented growth. 

They’re also starting to see more adults in their late 20s and 30s browsing showrooms and dealer lots alongside more traditional customers — older couples looking ahead to retirement. 

“Now the aisles are full of baby strollers,” said Dan Pearson, an RV dealer in Minnesota. 

In 2009, recreational vehicle shipments from manufacturers to dealers — a key measure of consumer demand — sank to 165,700 — the lowest level in nearly two decades. Shipments have steadily risen since then and are projected to reach 505,600 units in 2017, up 17.4 percent from a year ago, the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association said. It would be the first time shipments surpassed the half-million mark since the group started recording shipments in 1981, RVIA spokesman Kevin Broom said Wednesday.

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