Tiffin Motorhomes Discontinuing Vanleigh RV Operations

[bobbyl41]

Originally Posted by BobGed

In a letter to employees today (Jan. 9), Tiffin Motorhomes President Leigh Tiffin announced that the Red Bay, Ala.-based RV builder is discontinuing the operations for its Vanleigh RV towable division in Burnsville, MS.

Story HERE

Bad link

[Jrendrag]

Here is a better link to the story.
https://rvbusiness.com/tiffin-focuse...ized-segments/

[JoeJunior]

I lived in the same city as Bob Tiffin for many years, and am familiar with his company. I was close friends with Bob's brother in law who's since passed on--Mr. J.M. Page.

Vanleigh RV was formed to have a business for Leigh Tiffin, the grandson, to get into. He was never going to have the financial resources to purchase Tiffin Industries, the family company. Leigh was riding the coattails of Tiffin's reputation in the RV business.

Leigh recognized that there would be a market for a medium to expensive fifth wheel product line, and he had a built in clientele with Tiffin Industries present dealer base. I am very proud of what he has done starting the company from nothing.

But Thor has a bunch of brands of fifth wheel and travel trailer factories already, and Vanleigh is just a small operation operating out of one rather small productoin building and their parts warehouse 200 yards down the road.

The RV industry is in the process of changing with inflation nipping at their heels and their having component supply shortages. Inflation has also had a negative impact on the Baby Boomers that have been purchasing Tiffin's products. Saying that, since Tiffin Industries purchased Vanleigh I'm not surprised that the operations are ceasing. I would assume Lee will also be working in Tiffin Industries since the family is still running the operation for Thor.

[MKwilli]

We own a Van Leigh (VL) Vilano, and we were not overly surprised at this announcement. The writing was on the wall when the customer support team that handled warranty etc. moved from VL's factory in Burnsville, MS to Tiffin in Red Bay, AL. The good news going forward for VL owners is that there is a non-Thor/Tiffin/Van Leigh affiliated service center in Tishomingo, MS that has been servicing VL 5th wheels for quite some time.

[buc1908]

I wander when the price was low for the FW company make money.Now the price for a nice FW jump over $100000 and company complain is no money build FW .That greedy for sure.

[m.elliott63]

Originally Posted by traveldawg

No doubt folks will continue to bash Thor. I think you'd find the real answer is low sales of a higher end, pricy 5th wheel. It can be pretty hard to keep something like that afloat in the current economic times not to mention supply chain issues.

Just like back in the mid 2000's - we should expect to others follow suit. Remember Carriage (already mentioned), Teton, Hitchhiker - all top names and dependable rigs; they just couldn't last out the recession back then.

Same goes for motorhomes - Monaco, Holiday Rambler, Beaver, Country Coach. All crashed with the times back them.

You forgot National in 2008!

[NCPearlie]

The Keystone Everest line was a victim of the 2008-2009 economy as well. Our 2009 fiver is a really solid rv. So far we have been able to find parts needed, but going forward I'm sure it's going to get harder.

[JoeJunior]

Originally Posted by MKwilli

We own a Van Leigh (VL) Vilano, and we were not overly surprised at this announcement. The writing was on the wall when the customer support team that handled warranty etc. moved from VL's factory in Burnsville, MS to Tiffin in Red Bay, AL. The good news going forward for VL owners is that there is a non-Thor/Tiffin/Van Leigh affiliated service center in Tishomingo, MS that has been servicing VL 5th wheels for quite some time.

Red Bay, Golden (MS) and Tishomingo all have RV service shops. Many were previous Tiffin employees that have gone out on their own.

They seem to be pretty busy too--fixing all brands of RV's. I know Tiffin's shops are eternally booked up.

[ron55]

their are about 25 new beacons in my park and they plagued with problems

[MKwilli]

Not surprised on the Beacons having issues.

[truk4u]

their are about 25 new beacons in my park and they plagued with problems

25 new Beacons, were is your Park, I need to visit? The park I’m in has 450 sites and there are 2 of us Beacons. I own a 2022 Beacon and have has very few issues as well as many other owners I know.

Vanleigh like all other RV manufacturers has had their QC problems, but my experience has been positive. The decision to shut it down was Thor and not due to QC problems.

Why don’t you share all these plagued Beacon problems with us or is it just here say.

[StuartN]

Originally Posted by truk4u

their are about 25 new beacons in my park and they plagued with problems

25 new Beacons, were is your Park, I need to visit? The park I’m in has 450 sites and there are 2 of us Beacons. I own a 2022 Beacon and have has very few issues as well as many other owners I know.

Vanleigh like all other RV manufacturers has had their QC problems, but my experience has been positive. The decision to shut it down was Thor and not due to QC problems.

Why don’t you share all these plagued Beacon problems with us or is it just here say.

Agree with Tom. We've had our Beacon for about 3 years and it's been pretty trouble free. A few small issues that Vanleigh promptly addressed.

Last time I saw more than just our Beacon at a campground was at the Vanleigh rally lol.

[jdpm]

No loss for the consumer. They touted themselves as a high end but were nothing more than flashy paint and pretty cabinets. Way over-priced for "just another fifth wheel.

[lowejug]

I bought a 2019 vanleigh beacon to have on a Rv resort lot I own..

I was impressed and liked there packaging design and colors as others when I first stumbled on one..

I owned it close to 2 years.. relatively problem free..

I recently decided to sell it and buy a 2022 vanleigh beacon..
A different floor plan/ color package/ and bigger unit was why.

I will say thus far the 2019 definitely was put together better than the 2022 it’s just Noticeable . The 2022 seems to almost have
Left over cabinets that don’t fit perfectly with gaps..

I also had
A plumbing issue right off the bat with 2 clamps coming off some connections down below.. technician has found a lot of the clamps
On other multiple connections have drips.. so have had to fix this
And now watching for other drips..

So my overall opinion is that this 2022 was built probably knowing the company was shutting down where the 2019 was built when they really wanted to try and build a quality trailer..it just shows.

I will also say that overall I still am very satisfied with the beacon
Product.. all you have to do is walk into other manufacturers
Products and the beacon is still very impressive..