Richmond Va rv show

[-Gramps-]

I just returned from the Richmond VA rv show. Just a few observations before I get to the reason why I am posting here on the WH forums.

According to the sales reps for the dealers exhibiting, attendance was better than last year.
Exhibitors included Safford RV, an Itasca, and Fleetwood dealer.
McGeorge Rolling Hills was also there with a very large exhibit. They displayed Winnebago, Forest River and Thor coaches along with many trailers. As of the end of the first day of the show which was Friday they said that their total sales which included everything were THREE times better than last year. They expected to do really well. The show ends tomorrow. I asked about how the sales were taking place, cash or credit. They told me the mix was the same as last year but credit buyers were expected to make larger down payments.

There were not many high end coaches on display. The most expensive was a 09 HR Endeavor with a show price of 219,000 and an equivalent Monaco Diplomat at about the same price. I did see a 06 42 tag Beaver Patriot Thunder that had an original msrp of 435,000 going for 218,000 at the show. There were lots of A's with bunk bed floor plans. Most show prices were discounted a lot with the exception of the Winnies. No UFOs on display at all. No Freds either. The most buzz seemed to be around a lot of Class B's by Roadtrek that were in the 90,000 dollar range. That is a crazy price for a B.

I had a very long chat with a high up Forest River factory rep. He is a sales manager who lives in Elkhart and works for the Motorized Division, (motor homes of course). I asked about the UFO. He told me that they sold 60 of them and considered that a limited success. He also told me something that I already knew that they sold the very first UFO coach. I asked what prompted them to quit building on it. He told me it came down to price, the cost of the chassis kept going up due to r&d cost and size and they could not build on it and deliver a coach to the dealer at the price they wanted. However, they now regret that decision and are figuring out someway to build on the UFO again and quickly. They were considering building a Georgetown DP, but there has not been much interest from the public for that, they have had more inquiries and request for the UFO. So the sales team at FR is trying to convince the management to build a 32-34 foot full wall slide coach on the UFO R-22. This rep asked me what I thought of that idea. I told him it would be great. It would appeal to me a lot more than say the Damon Avanti front engine diesel. He said good point. Our research indicates that due to the current gas price structure, diesel is not the best way for us to go at this time. He also said he thought Workhorse has marketed the UFO backwards. The R-22 should have come out first and then the UFO R-26; the same kind of path that the standard W-series took. He plans to monitor this forum and would like opinions from the members here. He told me he wants to stay in touch. Also he said that a UFO owner's rally would be a great thing to have happen. I think I should be able to get names from him of Forest River UFO owners.

He also told me who and why he thinks various manufactures will make it or not through this hard time. Those that will not had been making poor management decisions before all this mess started. Forest River is doing well and will come out smelling like a rose along with Thor (who instead of buying back coaches from dealers in trouble is buying the dealer out and selling direct themselves) and Winnebago. We will have to wait and see when it comes to some of the other ones.

If you have any questions about the show, I will be glad to answer them.

editied for typo error by request of Gramps