Industry unity at heart of RV sales success

Dec. 3—ELKHART — The RV industry has experienced unprecedented growth over the past two years, an accomplishment made possible in large part due to the industry's demonstrated ability to unify in the face of adversity.

That's the word from Craig Kirby, president of the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association, who spoke on the state of the RV industry during the 9th Annual RV Industry Power Breakfast held Thursday morning at the Northern Indiana Event Center, part of the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart.

According to Kirby, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed how people see and interact with the world, causing many to reevaluate their lives and what they feel is truly important. Getting back to nature, and spending time outdoors, has become a priority for many — a priority which aligns perfectly with the RV lifestyle.

"RVing has experienced a never-before-seen level of interest, and our industry has risen to the challenging, meeting demand by producing record numbers of shipments," Kirby told the crowd of about 1,000 RV industry officials and allies early Thursday morning. "As I look back on the past two years, and how much we've accomplished, especially considering the industry was shut down for about two months, I quickly realized what I wanted to talk about this morning: industry unity."

According to Kirby, that unity was never more exemplified than at the very beginning of the pandemic when the new Industry Relaunch Task Force was created.

"Industry leaders from manufacturers, suppliers, after market, finance firms, dealers, campgrounds, and U.S. and Canadian associations, were instrumental in providing real-time data and information as to what was happening in each segment of the industry, which enabled us together to target specific industry obstacles, especially focusing on having the industry members declared essential businesses by the government," Kirby said. "The Industry Relaunch Task Force exhibited the best industry collaboration I've ever witnessed, and that is saying a lot, considering how industry unity is responsible for some of our biggest successes."

Also pointed to as a great example of unity within the industry is the long-running national marketing campaign Go RVing. The campaign, which is a joint venture of the RVIA and the RV Dealers Association, is now in its 25th year.

"In the over 20 years that it's been in existence, no other industry has been able to launch a campaign of the same size, scope, and with comparable success," Kirby said. "Another such area is our coordinated industry advocacy efforts, which played a critical role recently in the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, the largest funding of federal and state parks in over 60 years. Another is the RV Technical Institute. Manufacturers, suppliers and dealers all recognized that more needed to be done to recruit and train RV service technicians, leading to a multi-million dollar investment, and now we have a full-time staff at RVTI focused on this crucial area."

Most recently, RVIA has begun working to strengthen the RV industry's relationship with the campground industry, forming a task force with RV, state campground associations and campground operators to identify ways to modernize and expand existing campgrounds with the goal of elevating the consumer campground experience, Kirby explained.

"This is more critical than ever after our recent campground research study results, where we found that there are 1.6 million RV campsites among federal, state, local and private campgrounds," Kirby said. "Contrast that with the fact that there are 11.2 million RV-owning households, and according to our recent demographic survey, 9.6 million people are intending to buy an RV in the next five years. You don't need to be a mathematician to see that we need more RV campsites."

Despite all of the aforementioned success stories, Kirby was quick to note that maintaining industry unity is not easy, and requires vision, understanding, compromise and trust.

"We sit here this morning, all of us, extremely fortunate to be in an industry that is thriving during one of the most trying times in the world's history," Kirby said. "Our success has come from us uniting, and through your hard work, and those across your companies. The commitment of the production teams certainly cannot be overemphasized. Suppliers are working every day to produce more product while navigating never-before-seen supply chain challenges to meet the needs of manufacturers and dealers. And because your focus has been on meeting those challenges, I don't know if you've taken the time to realize the tremendous impact you've had on so many people.

"The pandemic left people scared, stressed, and many were desperate for an escape — an opportunity to forget about the virus, even for a little while," he added. "As those who build and sell RV products, you helped provide that escape. You helped bring smiles and laughter back into peoples' lives."

Helping to provide a glimpse into what may be in store for the RV industry in 2022 was Peter Morici, professor emeritus of economics with the University of Maryland, who was invited to speak on today's resurgent U.S. economy and its impact on the North American RV arena.

According to Morici, the U.S. economy should expect to see significant growth in 2022, though that could potentially hinge on how impactful the new Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus turns out to be.

"This environment, actually, if we have what I think we'll have, and that is a period of 3% to 4% inflation, a period of reasonable growth, and a continuing wrestling with COVID...that means that we are probably not in a COVID period, but a COVID era that will not end abruptly, but it will tail off over time," Morici said. "During this period, things like RV will lock into the behavior of another generation. So, in some ways, you have a remarkable opportunity."

While he's not sure the RV industry will be able to grow as rapidly in 2022 as it has in recent years, Morici noted that there are a number of positive things the industry can do to keep its forward momentum, one of which is revamping its training programs.

"Fewer people are going to go to college. So, I would say you need to transition those training programs into an apprenticeship program that is formalized," Morici said. "You can give people what is so scarce today: the opportunity to be a craftsman. But I would say you need to re-up your game a bit, as you have been doing, but take it to the next level, where you really have a formalized apprenticeship program.

"I think if you do that, your industry will profit much better, and you're going into a period where you can now start to think long-term about succeeding," he added. "This is no longer a quick opportunity. This is now a long-term opportunity, and I think the RV industry should see it in those terms."

Other guest speakers at Thursday's breakfast included U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski; RV Dealers Association President Phil Ingrassia; RVDA Chairman Mike Pearo; RVIA Chief Marketing Officer Karen Redfern; RVTI Executive Director Kurt Hemmeler; and Kampgrounds of America Inc. Chief Franchise Officer Darin Uselman.

Rounding out the event was a "Big Three" panel discussion featuring the chief executives of the industry's three largest RV builders: Bob Martin of THOR Industries Inc., Pete Liegel of Forest River Inc. and Mike Happe of Winnebago Industries Inc.

John Kline can be reached at john.kline@goshennews.com or 574-533-2151, ext. 240315. Follow John on Twitter @jkline_TGN.