Class B Market Share, Sales and Shipments

[gregmchugh]

The data is for new sales but that is a very small percentage of the Class B vans you will see on the road. Roadtrek still has something like 30,000 units on the road from all years they have been in business. Winnebago and Airstream total on the road must be much less so it is not surprising you see very few compared to the brands that have been in the Class B business a long time...

[mackcs]

Surprised that you do not list Leisure Travel Vans. In my opinion the best quality of any conversions. Just my opinion.

[booster]

I don't think Leisure makes any class B vans any more, do they?

[BBQ]

.

Ever since they discontinued the Freedom a few years ago (short Sprinter w slide),
LTV is a strict Class C shop.

Easier to build.
Bigger market.
More profit.
What's not to like?

[rockymtnb]

Doesn't look like this has been updated in a while so I'll try to follow Marko's format for the 2017 Class B totals:

Overall Class B shipments were up 28.4% for a total of 5249 units in 2017:

http://www.rvia.org/UniPop.cfm?v=2&OID=11557&CC=2016

Market share breakdown for 2017 according to SSI was:

Winnebago Industries Inc. 35.6% market share.
Erwin Hymer Group North America 29% market share.
Thor Industries Inc. 16.7% market share.

SSI: Class B Sales Show 26.5% Increase For 2017 | RV Business

Note there is a slight discrepancy in reported growth rates because RVIA tracks unit shipments while SSI reports sales.

[mlts22]

It is pretty cool to see an entire RV market jump by that much.

[BBQ]

.

Some analyst said the deliveries cannot be sustained.

Winnebago's stock took a dive.


But the price is still high.


.p

[Davydd]

With a 25% proposed tariff on steel I would expect a steel van to jump in price soon.

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by Davydd

With a 25% proposed tariff on steel I would expect a steel van to jump in price soon.

Shame on you for revealing that regardless of who benefits from tariffs, it's the consumer that always ends up taking it in the shorts.

[Mat Mobile]

Vehicle shipments January were posted: link.

Class Bs were down 7.4% compared to January 2017. I don't think we've seen that in a while.

[markopolo]

Originally Posted by rockymtnb

Doesn't look like this has been updated in a while so I'll try to follow Marko's format for the 2017 Class B totals:

Overall Class B shipments were up 28.4% for a total of 5249 units in 2017:

http://www.rvia.org/UniPop.cfm?v=2&OID=11557&CC=2016

Market share breakdown for 2017 according to SSI was:

Winnebago Industries Inc. 35.6% market share.
Erwin Hymer Group North America 29% market share.
Thor Industries Inc. 16.7% market share.

SSI: Class B Sales Show 26.5% Increase For 2017 | RV Business

Note there is a slight discrepancy in reported growth rates because RVIA tracks unit shipments while SSI reports sales.

Thanks for doing the update It would be great to keep it going. I have a 16 yr old Class A that I've been working on that keeps me busy so I'm not able to keep up with Class B related events as much as before.

[wincrasher]

Originally Posted by cruising7388

Shame on you for revealing that regardless of who benefits from tariffs, it's the consumer that always ends up taking it in the shorts.

Well, let's keep this in it's proper priority. They've said a a can of beer is only going to go up 1/3 of a cent per can. So all of you can stop sweating this current crisis, as the end of the world as we know it is not coming to pass.

[avanti]

Moderator's note:

Please don't let this discussion drift too far off topic.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Davydd

With a 25% proposed tariff on steel I would expect a steel van to jump in price soon.

With apologies to Avanti and the issue of drift, I'm not so sure. Under present conditions, we've been sending a good portion of our steel recycling business to other countries, presumably because it has not been attractive to reprocess it here. That may change if a big tariff comes to pass.

[rockymtnb]

According to RVIA, Class B shipments were up 5.7% compared to Q1 2017 with 1306 units:

http://www.rvia.org/UniPop.cfm?v=2&OID=11601&CC=2016

Market share breakdown for Q1 2018 according to SSI was:

Winnebago Industries Inc. 37.2% market share.
Erwin Hymer Group North America 30% market share.
Thor Industries Inc. 13.1% market share.

SSI: 'B' Sales On a Roll; Gain 37.9% for 3 Months | RV Business

Note there is a noticeable unit discrepancy between RVIA unit shipments (+5.7%) and SSI unit sales (+37.9%) gains for this quarter, although both are positive. These generally tend to settle out as cumulative unit sales vs shipments progress over the year.

[wincrasher]

WGO's continued trend to gain share is pretty amazing. Backlog on Travato & Revel appear to be building. You'd think that Hymer would be gaining share with all the cheap vans they've been putting out (Sunlight/Carado). Maybe that was a flash in the pan with a bunch of output Jan/Feb and those units continue to sit around largely unsold.

[kite_rider]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

WGO's continued trend to gain share is pretty amazing. Backlog on Travato & Revel appear to be building. You'd think that Hymer would be gaining share with all the cheap vans they've been putting out (Sunlight/Carado). Maybe that was a flash in the pan with a bunch of output Jan/Feb and those units continue to sit around largely unsold.

Well, it's not too surprising to me since the Travato and Revel are great products. But I also think the Akiv, Banff, and Axion are great products too.

The thing that just blows me away is that these companies are successful despite the terrible dealer networks that they sell through. I was very excited about the Revel and had to travel all the way to So Cal to see one last fall. I couldn't believe how uninformed the sales people were about the features, capabilities, backlog (wait times), and other pertinent info regarding these innovative vehicles! I found this to be equally true for both WGO and Hymer class B dealers. RV dealers seem to rely on old school stereotypical 'used car lot' style slimy sales people rather modern product promotion techniques.

I think WGO has won out by having an intelligent online presence with product placement through blog sites and YouTube stars like the FitRV and similar influencers. Hymer doesn't seem to get this and it's brand suffers from the lack of informed 'promoters' for it's products. I've had multiple people reach out to me to ask about my Axion. Usually they love the layout and product features that drove my purchase decision, but they are worried about getting stuck with a lemon since they've not 'heard a lot' about the van.

So hey Hymer, I'm here if you need me. Help me make my Axion a bit more rugged for off road use and I'll sing your praises.

[BBQ]

.

I would never expect an RV salesman to know much about any particular product. Look at the big picture -- Most dealers carry 50+ different models. Trailers and Class A are the big money makers. ClassB is 1% of the total market. If you are a salesman, where would you spend your time?

[BBQ]

.

Re web presence

WGO have the FitRV and tons of Lichtsinn videos.

RT have the Roadtrekking Mike Wendell.

Hymer have the We're the Russos.

[BBQ]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

WGO's continued trend to gain share is pretty amazing. Backlog on Travato & Revel appear to be building. You'd think that Hymer would be gaining share with all the cheap vans they've been putting out (Sunlight/Carado). Maybe that was a flash in the pan with a bunch of output Jan/Feb and those units continue to sit around largely unsold.

If people can't afford a commercial-built RV, they would go DIY.
I don't see how those sunlight can make good sense; they are warranty liabilities.