NEWS RELEASES
RV Sales Remain Strong As Shipments Drop For Fourth Month
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through The South Bend Tribune's website.
The South Bend Tribune reports that RV factory shipments dropped for the fourth consecutive month compared to the same month the year before. New RVIA figures put the decline at 20.3% in November, although still less than the association predicted its fourth quarter forecast. Statistical Surveys Inc., based in Grand Rapids, Mich., found that sales of most models through October remained somewhat ahead of last year’s record-setting pace.
Experts interviewed by the Tribune speculate that the drop in shipments is a result of dealers clearing out excess inventory, after over-exuberant ordering during early 2018. “Inventory was way out of whack,” Seth Woolf, a research analyst for Northcoast Research said. He predicts that lower shipment numbers could continue through the first four months of 2019.
Matt Rose, RV Director for the Indiana Manufactured Housing Association-Recreation Vehicle Indiana Council, told the Tribune that demand for RVs remains robust. “Just a few years ago, we would have been thrilled with numbers like these,” he said. “We’ve experienced eight straight years of growth and we’ve grown accustomed to seeing records broken month after month,” he said. The slowdown has yet to affect the local economy with Elkhart County’s unemployment rate remaining a healthy 3 percent in November.
Read the full story here.