The consolidation of the RV industry continues: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-...o-Acquire-Premium-RV-Manufacturer-Newmar.html
We've been window shopping the Newmar bay star sport, thor seems to have left alone Airstream & Jayco. I would hope Winnebago does the same. Mike
Seems that the RV industry is really no different than many other industries where the BIG swallow up the small and then try to swallow up themselves also. Remember back to when there were several Mom & Pop grocery stores in just about every town in the country. Then one by one they were either put out of business by a large grocery chain moving in just down the street, or if they were large enough in size, purchased outright by that chain, remodeled, and reopened under the new name. It's the "American Way" of business. By the way Mike, that Newmar Bay Star Sport you've been window shopping is one nice Class A coach. You'd look mighty good behind the wheel tooling down the road in one of those...........INDEED YOU WOULD.............!!! Regards, BankShot............(aka Terry)
I think it's worth noting the Newmar's Matt Miller went to Winnebago looking to deal, not the other way around... https://rv-pro.com/news/newmar-winnebago-tout-cultural-fit-tie
Right, it is pretty apparent that the "family" wanted an exit strategy. I'll bet that the existing management team stays for as long as they are contractually committed to staying.
Similar thing over here in OZ the biggest player by far is your own Jayco but I note they really do a different van to the types you get over there. We have a camping show here in Brisbane every year where Jayco sell on average 200 plus vans in 3 days well outstripping the competition in a small market such as Queensland. The big thing in Australia is the Off Road van market. A mate of mine, who is actually a 4wd legend her in Australia, has just started a new 4wd camping and touring series I reckon you mob would love....hear is the link; The big deal here is multiple manufacturers competing for a finite market. There are the Lotus and Kedron manufacturors who are at the top of the off road heap. But @BankShot @mdcamping @NYDutch copy and paste if you can't use the link to check out my mate John's (Roothy) latest outing to the Limestone Coast of South Australia. Careful boys you might get hooked. I know I am.....cheers
I never got the opportunity to explore the Limestone coast while in the Land of Oz but have seen many pics of it and for sure that is some really wide open space with miles upon miles of ocean front property that hasn't been bought out as yet by some developer wanting to fill it in with high rise condos and other businesses. Let's hope that never happens. Just curious Jason, does Jayco sell any of their Class A motorhomes in Australia? If not are there any name brands made available down there like Newmar, Holiday Rambler, Tiffin or Thor, etc. I don't recall seeing any on the roads but that was back in the early 80s and back then most RVs were trailers and 5th wheels with only a few Class A types like the old Winnebago "boxes" taking up that space on the road.............. Thanks once again for sharing that video with all of us Yanks. Makes me want to get back into four wheeling again but me thinks that my co-pilot might not take lightly to me pulling off into the sand and trying to tell her not worry because I just put our motorhome into four wheel drive mode...... Doubt she'd buy off on that at all................ Best regards, Terry............(aka BankShot
Hey Jason, enjoyed watching the video. would love to do that sort of stuff, problem is I need to convince my 57 year old body to be a 30 something again, lol Now that said we do good on our outdoor activities though we scale it back to something we can handle. We enjoy flat water kayaking, bike rail trails & moderate/easy hiking! The jayco I own is no where close to what you have and would probably fall apart on the off roads down under and I consider my jayco above average quality. One other thing that comes to mind, here on the usa east coast maybe just a very small nitch market on the off road rvs. I've seen a select few at the camping shows but that's it. Glamping seems to be the trend with the big out door kitchens, TVs and noisy stereo systems with outdoor speakers that blast music through the campgrounds Mike
Was just checking rv trader, just noticed a posting on a newer used newmar bay star sport. On the posting it mentions " pre- Winnebago" Wow word gets out! Mike
Mate the class A I think are growing in popularity here but I don’t think I have seen any other of the ones you mentioned on the roads here
