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RVBUSINESS.com
VOLUME 59, NUMBER 2, MAY 2008
©
WINNEBAGO’S
GOLDEN
ANNIVERSARY
Winnebago Industries Inc.
President Bob Olson and
Chairman and CEO Bruce
Hertzke, center, are
joined by 100 Veteran
Winnebago Employees
Iowa Manufacturer, Through Thick and
Thin, Maintains Focus, Robust Outlook
Newmar Corp. Introduces New
Diesel Pusher at Dealer Confab
Go To:
The Rally Draws Nearly 3,500
Rigs, 9,200 RVers to Georgia
.com
New Tire Record-Keeping Rule
Hot Topic at NATM Convention
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002-RVB0805 PG 2 MONACO
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©
25
VOLUME 59, NUMBER 2, MAY 2008
DEPARTMENTS
4 State of the Art
16 In Brief
59 Public Domain
62 Ad Index
65 Retail Trends
50
68 Classifieds
TOP OF THE NEWS
7 Jayco Establishes Luxury Division in Former Travel Supreme Plant
7 GMC Denali XT SUT Leads the Way Into Hybrid Tow Vehicle Era
8 FEMA Adopts Stricter Requirements for Emergency Housing
8 Western RV ‘Temporarily Suspends’ Operations in Soft Market
8 Damon Designs Shorter, More Fuel-Efficient Class A Coach
10 Motorized Sales Continue to Lag; Sector Drops 24% in Feb.
10 Conference to Focus on Tribal-Owned RV Parks, Campgrounds
12 ‘Upbeat’ Buyers Generate Steady Sales at Affinity Pomona Show
14 Rising Diesel Fuel Prices Impact RV Transport Drivers, Companies
18 Spader Report: Price Buyers vs. Value-Oriented Customers
THIS PAGE: Attendees look over the new line of
Beaver motorcoaches at AGI’s The Rally, March 1417 at the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry.
More than 9,200 people and nearly 3,500 RVs were
on hand for the show (page 50). ABOVE: Newmar’s
Dutch Aire diesel pusher, introduced at the company’s
2009 product rollout in South Bend, Ind. (page 25).
NEWS IN FOCUS
21 Tire Record-Keeping Rule Hot Topic at Annual NATM Confab
25 Newmar Introduces New Diesel Pusher at 2009 Product Rollout
FEATURES
50 AGI’s The Rally Draws Nearly 3,500 Rigs, 9,200 RVers To Georgia
SUPPLIER SHOWCASE
55 PullRite Provides the Long and Short of Fifth-Wheel Hitch Design
SPECIAL WINNEBAGO SECTION
28 Welcome to Forest City, Iowa, Better Known as Winnebago U.S.A.
31 A Half-Century of Highlights — Winnebago’s Golden Years
38 Changing of the Guard: A Q&A with Bruce Hertzke and Bob Olson
42 Greater Emphasis on Diesel Chassis as Winnebago Looks to ’09
COVER: Nearly 100 of the longest-serving
employees at Winnebago Industries Inc.’s Shipout
facility join company President Bob Olson and
Chairman and CEO Bruce Hertzke (center front)
in celebrating Winnebago’s 50th anniversary.
A half-century ago,
John K. Hanson
helped to bring a trailer
manufacturer to tiny
Forest City, Iowa,
beginning a run
that would see
Winnebago become
synonymous with the
term “recreational
vehicle.” Photo by
Shawn Spence.
RV Business (USPS 920-340) is copyrighted 2008 by TL Enterprises
Inc. in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and other countries.
Publication Sales Agreement No. 1938495 Canadian return address:
Affinity Group Inc., 2575 Vista Del Mar, Ventura, CA 93001. All
rights reserved. Permission to reprint or quote excerpts granted only
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editorial material to the Ventura, Calif., office. RV Business is published
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years. Foreign subscriptions, $129 a year. Single copies are $11.95.
Advertising rates are provided on request. RV Business is published by
TL Enterprises Inc., 2575 Vista Del Mar Dr., Ventura, Calif. 93001,
which also publishes Trailer Life, MotorHome, Rider, Trailer Life’s
Campground/RV Park & Services Directory and Highways for the
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■
B Y
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S H E R M A N
G O L D E N B E R G
STAFF
Sherman Goldenberg
Bruce Hampson
WEB EDITOR Dave Barbulesco
ART DIRECTOR Steven Averill
SENIOR EDITOR Bob Ashley
MIDWEST EDITOR Steve Bibler
EDITOR AT LARGE Jeff Crider
PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Shawn Spence
CONTRIBUTING TECHNICAL EDITOR Chris Hemer
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Bob Dawson
VP/RV TRADE PUBLICATIONS
S T A T E
O F
T H E
A R T
EDITOR
Winnebago and the People
and Plains of Iowa Leave
Impressions on RVB Staff
an’t tell you how much we enjoyed assembling this issue’s coverage of Winnebago Industries Inc. and visiting the corn-belt
community of Forest City, Iowa, in the process. We were
treated well by one and all. And, as we pointed out in the lead of
the Q&A interview in this issue, our March visit through the stillwintry moonscape of northern Iowa came at an unbelievably timely moment in Winnebago’s history as the company was toasting
its 50th anniversary and simultaneously preparing for the
transition of power from veteran exec Bruce Hertzke to Bob
Olson, the company’s 56-year-old president who was to
assume the additional titles of chairman and CEO on May 5.
We were glad to have been a part of all that and we wish the
best to Hertzke and Olson in their new roles — Bruce more
than likely wearing a camo jacket with a shotgun on his shoulder in early retirement and Bob in business casual dress gaveling board meetings
for one of the industry’s most consistent and admired manufacturers.
That’s what I’ll take with me from my visit to Forest City — a mental snapshot
of a timeless town in which Andy, Opie and Aunt Bea might have felt quite at
home and Howard Sprague would happily have set up shop on main street. To be
fair about it, though, my own Hoosier hometown is similar in its ability to straddle the 20th and 21st centuries.
What will the other members of the RVB team remember most?
“I guess among the people that I spoke to, they seemed real forthright,” recalls
RVBusiness Managing Editor Dave Barbulesco, a South Bend, Ind., resident
responsible for the daily operations of RVBUSINESS.com. “They seem like real
folk. The other thing I’ll remember is just how big Winnebago is. I had anticipated it, but was surprised by just how big their facility and their campus is. I
mean, I’d been to Iowa before and there wasn’t anything that stood out otherwise.
The whole state looks the same — just like Indiana.”
Whether it was in his mind or not, what most struck RVB Photography
Director Shawn Spence was the remoteness of Forest City and what he perceived
as the positive physiological benefits of that seclusion from the rest of the civilized, mall-crawling, burger-ingesting world. “What I’ll remember most is the
remote lifestyle,” said Spence, a small-town Indiana native who now resides in an
Indianapolis suburb. “I didn’t see the fast-food restaurants nor the fast-food girth
that I see around here.
“You know, everybody was working hard, looking good and enjoying life instead
of going to Starbucks and McDonalds to socialize all the time like they are in
Indianapolis. I mean, you’re so far out there in the flatlands of northern Iowa —
you’re out there with the windmills (an expansive windmill farm on I-35). It’s just
a throwback way of life. That was the thing that stuck with me. I think of those
guys in there on the chassis line, working there to get ’er done. They’re more
concerned about showing up for work and doing it the right way.
“Having said that,” he added ruefully, “I’ve got to admit that for a guy like
myself who lives in the city and works in 25 or more states in a year, it would be
hard to live there.” 6
C
SENIOR ADVERTISING
Brenda Hutchinson
Olivia Long
PREPRESS SPECIALIST Gerald Vandiver
IMAGE EDITOR Robert Peterson
ASSISTANT CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Jill Anderson
CONSUMER MARKETING MANAGER Eve Smith
FULFILLMENT MANAGER Denise Vigstol
PRODUCTION MANAGER
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
TL ENTERPRISES INC.
Stephen Adams
Michael Schneider
SENIOR VP/CFO Tom Wolfe
CHAIRMAN
PRESIDENT & CEO
VP/PUBLISHER/
RV CONSUMER & TRADE PUBLICATIONS
VP/CONTROLLER
Bob Livingston
Dale Hendrix
VP/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Susan Bray
Kevin Hobbs
VP/TL DATABASE PUBLISHING Joe Daquino
OF GOOD SAM CLUB
VP/MARKETING
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF
CLUB & PUBLICATIONS MARKETING
CHAIRMAN & PUBLISHER EMERITUS
Ken Hurd
Art Rouse
EDITORIAL /BUSINESS OFFICE
2575 Vista Del Mar Drive, Ventura, CA 93001
(805) 667-4100; Fax: (805) 667-4484; [email protected]
ADVERTISING
Terry Thompson
Sue Panchenko (Mgr.), Angela Pezzullo
BUSINESS MANAGER Denielle Sternburg
ADVERTISING SALES PROMOTION MGR. Barbara Keig
P.O. Box 8510, Ventura, CA 93002-9912
(805)667-4100; Fax: (805) 667-4379
Elkhart, Indiana
MIDWEST SALES DIRECTOR Chuck Lasley
ADVERTISING SALES Tacy Hendershot, Lou Cicirelli
2300 Middlebury St., Elkhart, IN 46516
(574) 295-7820; Fax: (574) 522-0418
ADVERTISING SALES Paul Gillerlain
(219) 324-4740; Fax: (219) 324-6564
Seattle, Washington
ADVERTISING SALES Scott Oakes, John Marciano
1818 Westlake Ave., Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 283-9545, fax (206) 283-9571
VP/RV ADVERTISING SALES
CLASSIFIED
Automotive Accounts
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As Vice President of RV Trade Publications for TL Enterprises Inc., Sherman Goldenberg,
based in Elkhart, Ind., oversees RV Business & Woodall’s Campground Management.
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005-RVB0805 PG 5 BofA
4/15/08
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Page 5
Your Bank of Opportunity™
Complete dealer solutions from one bank.
Look to Bank of America as the single source for all your dealership needs.
With more than 40 years of accumulated industry experience, we offer a broad
spectrum of solutions designed to help you focus on the future—from floor
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card, wealth management and much more. You can count on Bank of America
to help build your success. To learn more, visit us at bankofamerica.com/rvdealer.
Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender
. ©2008 Bank of America Corporation.
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006-RVB0805 PG 6 GENERAC
4/15/08
2:00 PM
Page 6
Generac, a leading innovator in the design and manufacture
of home standby and industrial generators has done it again!
We’ve completely reinvented our line of GUARDIAN generators for
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These new generators are compatible with industry standards for
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With a full range of gasoline, diesel and LP products, your
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THE NEW GUARDIAN
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UÊ }ÌÜi}Ì]ÊV«>VÌÊìÃ}
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i}iÊÜVÊ«>VÃÊÀiÊ«ÜiÀÊÌÊÊ
>ÊÃ>ÊvÌ«ÀÌ
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For more information, visit us online at guardiangenerators.com or call 1-800-333-1322
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007-RVB_0805_LO_TOP
4/18/08
TOP
News
OF THE
RVIA Making Plans for
Busy Committee Week;
Curtin to Present Views
During ‘Forecast 2009’
Recreation Vehicle Industry
Association (RVIA) members will
meet to plan the association’s
agenda for the next fiscal year
and beyond at Committee Week,
set for June 9-12 at the Willard
InterContinental Hotel in Washington, D.C.
During the four-day event, the
association’s standing committees, executive committee and
board will meet to develop strategies and programs for the upcoming fiscal year.
The Go RVing Coalition and
Committee on Excellence are also
scheduled to meet in conjunction
with Committee Week on June 9.
This year, Forecast 2009 will
once again be a feature event at
Committee Week. The two-hour
luncheon program on June 10 will
continued on page 64
RVDA Board of Delegates
Reviews Strategies
for ’08, Identifies Top
Association Priorities
More than 50 volunteer leaders
serving on the Recreation Vehicle
Dealers Association (RVDA) Board
of Delegates met April 1-2 with
the RVDA board and staff for an
intensive two-day session to
review association strategies for
2008 and beyond. The association’s overall goals initially had
been revised during the RVDA
board’s meeting March 17-18 in
Charleston, S.C.
Members of the Board of
Delegates are elected to two-year
terms by dealers to represent
their states. There are also atlarge delegates.
Delegates identified as top priorities: Solving consumer problems
1:52 PM
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Jayco Establishes New Luxury Division;
Re-Enters Class A Motorhome Market
Entegra Coach Inc. Will Also Build High-End Fifth-Wheels at Former Travel Supreme Plant
Middlebury, Ind.-based Jayco Corp., the holding
company for Jayco Inc., Starcraft RV Inc. and other
subsidiaries, announced April 4 that it had established
a new division to manufacture and market luxury fifthwheels and diesel-powered Class A motorhomes.
The new company, Entegra Coach Inc., will assume
operations in a 160,000-square-foot facility in
Wakarusa, Ind., that formerly housed luxury fifth-wheel
and motorhome builder Travel Supreme Corp. Jayco
Corp. acquired certain of Travel Supreme’s assets,
including raw materials, equipment and the Wakarusa
facility, in an agreement signed April 3.
Jayco Corp. reported at press time that Entegra
Coach Inc. would begin immediately to hire workers;
the new company anticipated that production of two
luxury fifth-wheel lines and three diesel-powered Class
A motorhome lines would start by the end of April.
Glenn Troyer, former president of Travel Supreme,
was appointed president of Entegra Coach, and a new
management team was being organized. Other former
white-collar and blue-collar employees of Travel
Supreme were expected to be hired shortly thereafter,
and the new company hopes to reach employment of
up to 125 workers within the first year, said Sid
Johnson, director of marketing for Jayco Inc.
With the asset purchase, Jayco re-enters the Class
A motorhome market, which it left in 2003 after disappointing results. The fifth-wheel products also represent a price-point sector in which Jayco has never participated, Johnson said.
“The best time to get involved in a situation like this
is when the market is down,” said Johnson. “We feel
we will be able to do well in both segments.”
In reference to Jayco’s previous venture into the
Class A business, Johnson noted: “The difference in
this case, we’re not starting from scratch. We can pretty much hit the ground running. The intellectual properties and the expertise we acquired give us a relative
leg up on production and materials. We think we have
an advantage going in, especially with the expertise of
the people involved.”
Johnson said the sales team for Entegra Coach “will
be charged with the responsibility of building an entire
different dealer body from Jayco and Starcraft.”
“Over the years, Jayco has established a reputation
for building good products and for working closely with
dealers to provide exemplary customer service,”
said Wilbur Bontrager, president and CEO. “This
new venture allows us to extend our business model to
new segments of the RV market. We are energized
by the opportunities for Entegra Coach and we
look forward to the synergies associated with this new
venture.”
Johnson explained the origin of the word “Entegra,”
which Jayco created for its new product. “We believe it
speaks to two things: Jayco’s commitment to operating in the RV business with integrity, even though we
used an ‘E’ instead of an ‘I.’ And secondly, we think it
is a good name to represent an RV company that operates in the luxury or upscale side of the business.” 6
GMC Leads Way Into Hybrid Tow Vehicle Era
Concept Denali SUT Boasts Ethanol-Capable V-8, Low-Speed AllElectric Drive, 3,500-Pound Tow Rating, 1,100-Pound Payload
How much the hybrid vehicle trend ultimately ed at 326-hp, is a new, more fuel-efficient version of
affects the U.S. tow vehicle market remains to be GM’s small block V-8. Matched with GM’s two-mode
seen, but there are signs that changes are afoot. One hybrid propulsion system, GM spokesmen say it proexample now in the works is the Denali XT concept vides exceptional capability, including all-electric
hybrid sport-utility truck (SUT), which serves as a drive at low speeds. Towing capability is estimated at
test bed for GMC’s future design direction and offers 3,500 pounds and payload capacity at 1,100
a 50% increase in combined fuel economy over pounds. — Joe Bohn 6
comparable, small, gas-fueled
pickup trucks. The truck’s unibody architecture and rearwheel-drive layout, according
to its designers, lend to a
muscular, performance-styled
form. Lighter than conventional body-on-frame trucks, unibody structure also provides
exceptional ride-and-handling
and better economy. In addition, Denali XT features the
first combination of General
Motors’ two-mode hybrid
system with an E85 ethanolcapable engine, reported Jim
GMC Denali XT concept hybrid SUT
Bunnell, GMC general manager. Its 4.9-liter engine, estimat-
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Page 8
NEWS
FEMA Announces Stricter Requirements
For Builders of Emergency Housing Units
Agency Adopts CDC Recommendations On Formaldehyde Emissions; New Limits
Are Below CARB Standard RVIA Plans to Ratify for Wood Products Used in RVs
In the wake of ongoing investigations by
Congress concerning formaldehyde levels in
travel trailers used as emergency housing in the
Gulf Coast, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) announced April 11 it had adopted stricter requirements for manufacturers of disaster housing.
On its website, FEMA said its new procurement
specifications regarding formaldehyde are based
on what the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) has stated is the indoor average for a modern home of .016 parts per million
(ppm). That level is more stringent than limits in
the proposed standard by the California Air
Resource Board (CARB) of .08 ppm, which the
Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA)
is moving to adopt as a requirement for wood
products used to build RVs.
FEMA said its new standard will be part of a
request in proposals for the design and production of an initial 500 manufactured homes and
100 recreational park trailers. The contract will be
in place for three years and allow FEMA to purchase up to 1,400 manufactured homes and
1,900 regular park models for use in future disasters. The agency said that some would be
available for this year’s hurricane season. Earlier,
FEMA announced it would no longer use travel
trailers for future emergencies.
William Garpow, executive director of the
Recreational Park Trailer Association (RPTIA),
told RVBusiness that the association was not
consulted regarding the new limits, but did welcome any effort by FEMA to establish guidelines
for builders.
“We need to see something definitive from the
government, so in that respect it’s a step in the
right direction,” Garpow said. “The problem is it’s
comparing apples to oranges, which has been a
problem throughout this whole process. I think
basing it on an average household residence is
Country Coach Signs on Canada’s Belanger RV
Highline motorhome builder Country
Coach Inc., Junction City, Ore, expanded
its presence in the Canadian market with
the addition of Belanger RV Centre to its
dealer body.
Country Coach said that Belanger, located in
Canada’s capital city of Ottawa, will serve the
entirety of Eastern Canada, with exclusive
market rights to the Ontario, Quebec and
Maritime Provinces.
With roots in the automotive industry,
Belanger RV is a 45-year-old, family-owned
firm featuring an indoor showroom and 16
full-service bays.
“We are a family company, with a long history of serving our clients,” said Marcel Belanger,
president and founder of the dealership he
owns with his two sons, Marc and Luc.
“Country Coach is the ideal motorcoach brand
to match our business philosophy of ultimate
customer care.”
Jim Howard, Country Coach’s senior vice
president of sales and service, noted: “Our
motorcoach owners have very high expectations for their dealer experience. I am extremely excited about our alliance with Belanger RV.
Marcel and Marc are committed to offering a
level of integrity and customer service that will
surpass our owners’ already high standards.”
Howard added that Belanger RV will be a
"true regional dealer," carrying all the latest
Country Coach motorhome lines. 6
Western RV Operations
‘Temporarily Suspended’
Reportedly strapped for cash and struggling in a down market, longtime
recreational vehicle manufacturer Western RV, Union Gap, Wash., shut
down April 15, although management statements gave workers some hope
for future employment with the company.
According to the Yakima Herald-Republic, the longtime company said in
a news release that its operations have been temporarily suspended due to
a market slowdown.
“During this short break in manufacturing, Western RV will review our
alternatives and determine the best course of action going forward,” company President Bob Wert said in the statement. “Once a plan has been
developed or a suitable buyer for the business is identified, we intend to
resume normal manufacturing operations.”
About 220 employees are affected by the closure. The firm, which makes
higher-end Alpine Coach motorhomes, plus Alpenlite-branded fifth-wheel
trailers and truck campers, laid off 47 workers last month in a move company officials said was to align production with market demand.
MonomoyCapital Partners of New York City bought the 37-year-old company, founded by Bill and Suzanne Doyle, in late 2006. The firm made an
unsuccessful attempt last fall to merge the firm with Middlebury, Ind.-based
towable builder Pilgrim International Inc.
“There’s still a lot that’s up in the air,” employee Beau Durkee told a
reporter while loading personal items into his truck. “It has not gone into
bankruptcy. It’s just shut down.” 6
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Stacy Firlotte, regional sales manager of Country Coach
(far right) with (l to r) Luc Belanger, manager, Marc
Belanger, general manager and Marcel Belanger, president
of Belanger RV Centre.
Damon Designs Shorter,
Fuel-Efficient Class A
Damon Motor Coach in late spring will introduce a relatively short 311⁄2-foot,
European-inspired front-engine Avanti Class A diesel motorhome built on a
16,000-pound GVWR Workhorse W-42 commercial truck chassis that emphasizes fuel economy.
“Our goal is to get 15 miles per gallon,” said Bill Fenech, president of the
Elkhart, Ind., subsidiary of Thor Industries Inc. “That’s a huge difference from
what Class A motorhomes are getting now.”
The planned Avanti and Del-Ray — Damon’s first Class C motorhome also in
development — are expected to be introduced to dealers in May as a hedge
against a soft market that has prompted layoffs at Damon and a number of other
U.S. RV manufacturers.
“It’s not a secret the RV industry is off on shipments and retail sales," said
Fenech, whose company is following through with plans to set up Del-Ray production in a dedicated Elkhart plant. “We needed to match our rate of production to the market.''
The Avanti, with a yacht-like interior and a sloped front end similar to profiles
more popular today in Europe, will have one slideout and eventually be offered
in two or three floorplans — none longer than 32 feet.
The suspension on the W-42 chassis has been modified to afford better driveability, Fenech said. “We’ve done several things to create better aerodynamics,” he added, noting that outside consultants were brought into help streamline the Avanti.
“Fuel economy is a hot topic and Europe has been in the fuel-economy business for quite awhile,'' Fenech said. “We hope to do for the Class A market what
the (German-built) Sprinter did for the Class C market.” — Bob Ashley 6
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009-RVB0805 PG 9 AON INS
4/15/08
3:46 PM
Page 9
If your RV customers think their auto insurance
company provides adequate coverage, help them
check out the facts.
AON
Coverage
Basic Auto
Coverage
Total Loss Replacement
Purchase Price Guarantee
Personal Contents
Campsite Liability
Emergency Expenses
Disappearing Deductibles
Full Timer Coverage
Mexico Coverage
The fact is that auto insurance policies do not provide adequate
RV coverage.
We’re Aon Recreation Insurance, the nation’s largest RVspeciality insurance producer. And we’ve been protecting RV
owners since 1966. We’ve come to know the industry pretty
well. We know our specialized RV policies go way beyond
standard auto policies. For instance, auto policies don’t include
total loss replacement, personal contents, campsite liability
or special emergency expenses — critical needs for RVers.
According to industry statistics, 90% of RVers are underinsured
because their RVs are insured with a standard auto policy.
As a dealer, you’re in a unique position to help reverse this
alarming trend. Make sure your customers know the facts
and provide them with a quote from Aon Recreation Insurance
before they leave your showroom. When your customers
know the facts about RV insurance coverage, they will
appreciate your concern for their well-being. And you’ll rest
assured knowing your customers have the protection they need.
Call Aon Recreation Insurance today to learn about our
new dealer incentive program and how your dealership can
earn valuable “after sale” income!
PO Box 923, El Segundo, California 90245-0923 • Phone: 888-829-5810 • Fax: 877-356-6034 • www.aonrecreation.com
Aon Recreation is a division of Aon Private Risk Management Insurance Agency, Inc. (in California, Aon Private Risk Management of California Insurance Agency, Inc., CA Insurance Lic. 0B33296).
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007-RVB_0805_LO_TOP
4/18/08
1:53 PM
Page 10
NEWS
Conference to Focus on Tribal-Owned RV Parks
Topics to Include Park Design and Development, Finance, Insurance and
Marketing; Leaders From 70-80 Indian Tribes Expected to Attend Confab
The first-ever conference designed to help
Native Americans develop and operate RV parks
and campgrounds is scheduled for May 13-14
in Phoenix, Ariz.
“Many Indian tribes have identified RV parks
as being viable economic development projects
and have included campground development in
their tribal economic development plans,” said
Bob McNichols, president of Rez Builders LLC
and a retired official with the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA), who is assisting Premiere Project
Management in organizing the conference on
behalf of Arizona Public Service, a public utility.
“Often tribes have world-class natural attractions on or near their reservations that will invite
RVers to tribal locations. Also, tribes see RV
parks as being complementary businesses that
will benefit other tribal retail ventures,”
McNichols said.
He noted that a lot of Native American campgrounds are run by “seat-of-the-pants management,” but tribal leaders are “looking for ways
to be more professional and profitable.”
McNichols has attracted a number of major
players in the campground industry to speak at
the conference. Among them are Linda
Profaizer, president and CEO of the National
Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds
(ARVC); Pat Hittmeier, vice president of
Florida Dealer Plans to Convert
Sports Complex into ‘RV Planet’
Plans are under way to convert a 74,000square-foot sports complex into a massive
indoor RV center, to be called Planet RV, in
southeastern Florida.
According to a report in the South Florida
Business Journal, Ft. Lauderdale, the
Deerfield Beach Sports Complex and a separately owned adjacent parking lot are under
contract for a combined $10 million by Gigi
Stetler, CEO of RV Sales of Broward, a 24year-old company.
The sports arena currently has two
rollerblading rinks on a 55,000-square-foot
ground floor and offices and other facilities
on the 19,000-square-foot upper level.
Stetler’s plan for Planet RV calls for conversion to an RV sales complex that will
house her three existing RV dealerships and
feature spaces for independent vendors with
compatible RV-related products and services. Stetler also envisions a child care facility,
a chiropractor, tanning services, an indoor
grill, bar and dance floor.
As envisioned, Planet RV will also have six
inside service bays that perform “cosmetic
and reconstructive upgrades,” but no
mechanical work.
Stetler said that the facilities for her existing RV facilities may go up for sale.
The RV business has been good for
Stetler. Her company posted revenue of $16
million in 2006 and $21 million last year.
She said she expects revenue to double within the next two years.
The seller for the sports complex was
Theme Properties. Originally listed for $10.4
million, the $8.1 million sale now seeks
minor zoning approvals prior to closing. 6
Lon Larson Elected Chairman Of
RV/MH Hall of Fame; Challenges
Companies to Continue Support
Lon Larson, general manager of
Oliver Technologies Inc. (OTI), has
been elected chairman for the RV/MH
Hall of Fame.
“Future recreation vehicle and manufactured housing generations will
thank this generation for its leadership, courage, vision and generosity
that came together to create a new
monument honoring the RV/MH
industries’ rich heritage,” said Larson,
referring to the new 80,000-squarefoot RV/MH Hall of Fame and headquarters for the RV/MH Heritage
10
Fo u n d a t i o n
Inc. in Elkhart,
Ind., that was
unveiled last
August.
Larson joined the RV/MH Hall of
Fame board in 2001 and has served as
vice chairman since 2006. In addition to
his service to the RV/MH Hall of
Fame, Larson also serves with the
Manufactured Housing Institute on its
board of directors and as vice chairman
of the suppliers division. He also serves
Happy Camper Wine Set
for Second Vintage
Exclusive Brands Inc., Concord,
Calif., will offer its second vintage of
Happy Camper wine this fall — marketed to appeal to the RVing and tenting
crowd — following the success of its
first offering two years ago.
“I’ve always been an outdoorsman-type person,” said Exclusive
Brands President Jeffrey Dye. “I’ve
hunted and fished and camped —
and RVed, of course.”
Happy Camper features the
characterized illustration of a
generic silver travel trailer on the
label of each of the brand’s varieties — Merlot, Chardonnay and
Cabernet Sauvignon.
Dye has advertised his wine,
which is sold by a small number of
campgrounds that have liquor
licenses, in RV consumer magazines. He’s aiming Happy Camper
at two diverse groups — outdoor enthusiasts in general and the younger “millennial” generation, or wine
drinkers in their 20s. “It’s not for wine snobs,” he said.
“It’s a new-generation fun brand.”
Happy Camper is produced at a family-owned winery
in the Central California Coast community of San Martin
about 30 miles south of San Francisco. The 2006 vintage currently is marketed in 30 states with a retail price
of $8.99, while the 2007 Happy Camper vintage should
be released later this year. 6
Motorized Sales
Continue To Lag;
Drop 24% in Feb.
Continued weakness in Class A and Class C
February sales signaled the fourth straight month of
double-digit declines for motorized registrations in
year-over-year comparisons, according to data from
Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Statistical Surveys Inc.
Overall motorized sales plunged 24% in February
to 2,864 units from 3,752 a year ago. For the two
months, motorhome registrations were down
20.6% with 5,440 units sold versus 6,850 in 2007.
Class A sales were down 25% in February with
1,798 units sold versus 2,399 the previous year
while registrations declined 20.4% to 3,571 units
from 4,489 for the two months.
The Class C sector incurred a 21% decline in
February sales, falling to 1,066 units from 1,353 a
year ago. For the first two months, sales dropped
21% to 1,869 units from 2,361.
Analysts were not surprised with the marked
decline in light of unfavorable economic conditions.
In a note to investors, Craig Kennison, analyst
with Robert W. Baird & Co., stated, “Further weakness is not surprising in light of general economic
weakness characterized by falling consumer
confidence.” 6
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011-RVB0805 PG 11 FREIGHTL
4/15/08
1:59 PM
Page 11
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007-RVB_0805_LO_TOP
4/18/08
1:53 PM
Page 12
NEWS
Affinity Pomona Show
Generates Steady Sales
Attendance Down, But Mood of Buyers ‘Upbeat’; 3
Dealers Reported to Move More than 20 Units Each
Although attendance was down
about 25% compared to last year at
the 3rd Annual Pomona RV & Travel
Show April 3-6 at the Fairplex in
Pomona, Calif., sponsoring Affinity
Gaither said the show drew 7,200
people compared to 9,500 last year.
“It just seemed the mood of the
buyers was upbeat and people were
buying RVs, and there was a good
selection to choose from,"
Gaither added.
Gaither,
based
at
Affinity’s headquarters in
Ventura, Calif., reported
that at least three of the
24 dealers showing units
sold more than 20 RVs
each, including a 40-foot
Tradewinds diesel pusher
from bankrupt National
RV Inc. that had been on
the dealer’s sales lot for
21⁄2 years.
Gaither said that severWeekend Warrior’s line of SURVs proved popular with the Southern
California crowd. Several exhibitors reported strong sales.
al things worked in favor
of a good show, despite
Group Inc.’s (AGI) Affinity Events the reduced attendance. “The date
division reported brisk sales.
stacked the deck for us a little bit,”
And that’s not that unusual, even Gaither said. “People have already
in a tough year like 2008, reported done their tax filings. The Memorial
Affinity Events Senior Vice Day holiday is coming up and peoPresident Tom Gaither. “We really ple are thinking a little bit more
did have a lot of buyers,” he said.
Lazydays RV Reports Year-End
Net Loss, Drop in ’07 Unit Sales
With sales of recreational vehicles
falling, Seffner, Fla.-based dealership
Lazydays RV Center Inc. posted a net
loss of $2.5 million for 2007, its first
yearly net loss in at least five years.
According to the Tampa Bay
Business Journal, that compared to net
income of $1.8 million in 2006.
For the year, Lazydays reported sales
of $778 million, a 2.7% increase over
year-ago revenue of $757.3 million.
For the fourth quarter, ended Dec.
31, sales dipped to $169.2 million
from $170.5 million the previous year
while the company reported a net loss
of $2.9 million versus a net loss of
$864,921.
12
Total retail vehicle sales decreased
by 228 units in 2007 compared to
2006, Lazydays said in a filing with
the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC). However, a better product mix and a higher average
per unit sales price meant overall vehicle revenue were higher.
Increases in vehicle revenue, parts
and services, finance and insurance,
and the RallyPark, the company’s
campground, partially offset a decline
in other income. The filing said that
decline primarily was due to a drop in
advertising revenue from the discontinuation of RVLiving, the company’s
magazine that focused on lifestyles. 6
Drew Industries
Names Fred Zinn
as President;
Lippert Subsidiary
to Acquire STI,
Seattech Companies
Drew Industries Inc. announced
April 14 that it has named Fredric M.
Zinn as president of the White Plains,
N.Y., company, effective May 28.
Zinn, executive vice president since
2001 and CFO since 1986, replaces
Leigh J. Abrams who will continue in
his capacity as CEO. Drew, parent
to recreational vehicle and manufactured housing suppliers Lippert
Components Inc. (LCI) and Kinro
Inc., said the move is part of the company’s management succession plan.
In related news, Drew also reported
that LCI, its Goshen, Ind.-based subsidiary, has “agreed in principle” to
acquire RV furniture supplier Seating
Technology Inc. and its affiliated
Seattech companies.
Zinn’s promotion is one of several
Sirpilla to Head Camping
World Retail Operations
National RV retailer FreedomRoads/Camping
World recently announced the promotion of
John A. Sirpilla to president of retail operations for
Camping World.
Sirpilla joined FreedomRoads in late 2003 through
the company’s acquisition of Sirpilla RV in Akron,
Ohio. According to a Camping World representative,
the move “is part of a larger management structure
redesign in response to the company’s rapid
growth.”
In his new role, Sirpilla will oversee the Camping
World retail accessory store network with more than
80 outlets nationwide, including in-store customer
experience, individual store inventory management
as well as the profit-and-loss statement.
“John has been instrumental in assisting the RV
dealership group in organizing and managing the
dealer operations,” said Craig Jensen, president of
the RV dealership group. “His experience and
expertise will continue to play a key role as he oversees the Camping World Retail locations.”
Marcus Lemonis, chairman and CEO of
FreedomRoads/Camping World added, “This is a
much-deserved promotion for John. His superior
leadership skills and creative insights have fueled
our rapid growth. John is one of the industry’s leading talents and we are pleased to recognize his many
contributions over the years.” 6
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013-RVB0805 PG 13 BANK OF
4/15/08
3:46 PM
Page 13
[
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OUT.
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or visit www.bankofthewest.com. Then watch your customers and your sales really get moving.
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Contents
007-RVB_0805_LO_TOP
4/18/08
3:55 PM
Page 14
NEWS
Emerging Morgan RV Resorts Buys
Indiana Beach Facility With 1,000 Sites
New York-Based Morgan has Five Other Parks Under Contract for ’08 Acquisitions
in Its Stated Quest to Become ‘The Best-Managed RV Park Company in the Country’
A leading privately owned chain of RV
parks and campgrounds is branching out
into the amusement park sector as part of its
drive to become a major regional destination for families.
Morgan RV Resorts LLC, based in
Queensbury, N.Y., in February purchased
the Indiana Beach amusement park and
adjacent Indiana Beach Camp Resort and
Yogi Bear Jellystone Park Camp-Resort
near Monticello, Ind., from the Spackman
family. The two west-central Indiana parks
contain a total of 1,000 camping sites, while
Indiana Beach features a giant waterpark,
sand beach, six roller coasters, shopping and
restaurants.
The purchase gives Morgan 36 RV parks
and campgrounds, four of which are Yogi
Bear camp-resorts. The company’s other
Yogi Bear parks are in Mays Landing, N.J.,
Aurora, Ohio, and Grand Haven, Mich.
Morgan added seven parks in 2007,
including Westward Ho Camp Resort in
Greenbush, Wis., Seaport Campground in
Old Mystic, Conn., and Camp Coldbrook
RV Resort in Barre, Mass., and had contracts at the end of February to purchase five
additional parks. “Our goal is to be at 100
parks within the next five years,” said Bob
Moser, a partner with Bob Morgan in
Morgan RV Resorts.
In an interview with RVBusiness, Moser
acknowledged that the firm has been operating “under the radar” since it began
acquiring RV parks in 2000 and especially
over the past five years as it quietly built its
RV resort business.
Morgan holdings are now located
in Maine, New York, New Jersey,
Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massa-
chusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North
Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Michigan,
Wisconsin and Indiana.The company says it
will be adding a resort in Colorado, its first
park west of the Mississippi River, this year.
Moser said he was surprised by the attention his firm received for the Indiana Beach
purchase: The announcement was carried in
at least 28 newspapers and countless electronic media outlets. Now, the cat’s out of
the bag, so to speak, and the partners welcome the recognition. “We want to become
the best managed RV park company in the
country,” Moser said.
To that end, Morgan RV Resorts, which
maintains a central call center for reservations at its parks and has adopted
Campground Manager software, hosted the
managers of all its parks for a week-long
Rising Diesel Fuel Prices Impact RV Transport Drivers, Companies
RV transport firms in Indiana’s Elkhart
County — and their base of independent
drivers — are feeling the effects of rising
pump prices as diesel fuel nears $4 a gallon.
“It’s really affecting our industry with fuel
prices, but especially our owner-operators,”
Sami Colby told WSBT, South Bend. Colby
owns Hoosier RV Transport in Bristol.
In her 14 years at the company, Colby
said she has never seen diesel costs so
high — and those rising costs are cutting
into her profits.
“We lease on approximately 150 to 200
independent owner-operators and we’re at
single digits as far as the money that we
have to make our bills,” she said. “There’s
almost no profit margin in this anymore.”
She said the company has to work with the
rates set by the RV dealers’ and manufacturers’ networks to figure how much they’ll pay
their drivers to deliver the RVs.
For drivers out on the road it’s becoming
somewhat of a juggling act to keep their
costs down, pay their bills and still turn a
profit at the same time.
“It’s costing right around half of their pay to
go out and come back,” said Harley Vollrath,
a dispatcher and former driver. “That’s not
even paying their overhead, their truck
payments, their insurance and so forth.”
“I would have liked to buy a new truck
within the last year or two,” said transport
driver Steven King. “I can’t do that because I
can’t afford the payments plus all the other
expenses. So I’m just making my old truck
keep doing the job." 6
Airstream 684 Feted by
European Magazine, Club
The European version of the iconic Airstream travel trailer
has racked up two awards since being introduced to the retail
market last August.
The 27-foot Airstream 684 recently was named “Best
Import” by the German Caravan magazine, and in late
February garnered the “Best Caravan Award” among 15 entries
from the 1 million-plus Caravan Club, which operates 3,000
campsites in the United Kingdom.
“It’s unique for the European market,” said Stuart Hicks,
managing director of Airstream Europe Ltd., Penrith, United
Kingdom. “The majority of the caravans (RVs) here
are white boxes and don’t look much different from
14
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015-RVB0805 PG 15 LINAK
4/15/08
1:58 PM
Page 15
I
NNOVATION DRIVES DEMAND FOR YOUR PRODUCT.
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Transforming space to the need of the moment is the latest trend in functionality. Working with some of the best suppliers to the RV
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Please email us at [email protected] or call us at 502.318.2109 for more information or for an industry supplier list.
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4/18/08
1:53 PM
Page 16
NEWS
Progressive Rolls Out
RVer’s Pet Coverage
Progressive, one of the RV industry’s leading insurance providers,
announced it added pet coverage
to its collision and comprehensive
policies for RV owners beginning
March 31.
The free add-on RV benefit covers
injuries and pays up to $500 in the
event of a pet’s death in an accident,
fire or flood.
“We are trying to get the word out
because it’s something that’s very
valuable to RVers,” said Cathy Pelfrey,
a Progressive RV product manager,
who helped develop the new pet benefit and is herself an RVer and owner
of a cat named Louie.
“We estimate 60% of RVers travel
with their pets,” said Pelfrey, interviewed by RVBusiness during
Affinity’s The Rally, Mar 14-17 in
Perry, Ga. “People are drawn to RVs
because of their pets. They don’t want
to have to kennel their pet or have
someone take care of them. And it’s
hard to stay in a hotel with an animal
— and flying is even harder.
“It’s interesting that we hear from
some RVers that they make a decision
about buying an RV because of their
pets.”
Progressive last fall began offering
pet coverage on automobile policies.
Adding it to RV insurance was a natural progression, Pelfrey said.
“If you buy regular RV vehicle
insurance coverage, the pet injury
coverage is within that,” said Pelfrey,
noting that Progressive is the only
vehicle insurer that includes pets in
its policies. “It makes that coverage
even more comprehensive.” 6
Shipments of Conversion
Bus Shells Up 10% in ’07
Wholesale shipments of conversion
bus shells used in luxury RVs and corporate entertainment units increased 10% in
2007 while overall commercial bus sales
declined.
According to National Bus Trader magazine, 309 conversion shells were
shipped in 2007 compared to 281 the
year before, with all but eight of the conversions being 45 feet long. Conversion
sales accounted for 14.2% of the bus
market, up from 11.8% in 2006.
Overall, wholesale coach sales — seated and conversion coaches combined —
declined 8.7% to 2,173 units, according
to the trade journal that annually tabulates
shipments in the U.S. and Canada.
“The decline in sales was concentrated
in domestic seated coaches,” National
Bus Trader said. “Logical reasons include
a decline in public sector sales in 2007
and some operators concerned over the
2007 (diesel) engines. Public sector
sales ... alone could account for most or
all of the decline.''
The best selling coach overall was the
MCI J4500 seated bus. Coaches imported from outside North America, with the
Belgian-made Van Hool C2045 leading
the way, accounted for 23.9% of the market, which was a new high, according to
the trade publication. 6
Officials Approve Forest River
Expansion for Goshen Plant
Forest River Inc., Elkhart, Ind., received the go-ahead March 17 from officials in Elkhart
County to build a new facility on an undeveloped 30-acre plot east of its complex in Goshen.
According to a report in the Elkhart Truth, Forest River is planning to build a 125,000square-foot facility and possibly two more structures within two to four years. The move will
require a zoning change for the property to manufacturing. The RV maker’s plans had come
under fire by three homeowners living near the proposed site.
Duane Burrow, a senior planner in the Elkhart County Planning Department, has maintained that the firm is within its rights in building at the spot and said Monday that a planned
50-foot wide buffer would be sufficient protection for the three residents.
Forest River plans on building an 8-foot-high earthen mound in the buffer zone and taking other steps — including installing downcast lighting — so the new development has
minimal impact on area residents. 6
16
IN BRIEF
Camping World Opens SuperCenter in Michigan. A new Camping
World SuperCenter opened March 7 at a
former Burnside RV location in Houghton
Lake, Mich. Camping World of Northern
Michigan includes a retail store and,
alongside, a 10-acre Camping World RV
sales complex that features a collision center and new service center. The dealership
will sell brands from a wide range of manufacturers including Keystone, Dutchmen,
Forest River, Sun Valley and Freedom
Express by Coachmen models.
Roadmaster Buys Stabilizer Unit
from N.Y. Firm. Towing system supplier Roadmaster Inc., Portland, Ore.,
announced that it recently acquired the
reflex steering stabilizer division of JR
Products. According to the company, the
reflex steering stabilizers manufactured
by Roadmaster — which automatically
compensate for oversteer — will be identical in design, features and performance
to those produced by Clarence Center,
N.Y.-based JR Products. Roadmaster will
brand-name the stabilizers under its suspension products division, and expand
the line to develop new stabilizers for
future applications.
Lawyer Challenges ‘Airstream
Ranch’ Removal. Frank Bates, owner
of Bates RV in Dover, Fla., has enlisted first
amendment lawyer Luke Lirot in his battle
to save his “Airstream Ranch.” Lirot
announced April 11 an appeal of a county
order to remove the eight aluminum-plated trailers partially planted off Interstate 4
on land near his dealership. The
Hillsborough County Code Enforcement
Board on March 14 ruled that the tilted
trailers installed Jan. 4 constitute four violations, including accumulated junk, trash
and debris, and illegal off-site advertising
for Bates RV.
Distributor Bell Industries Incurs
4Q Net Loss. Bell Industries Inc. reported on April 14 a net loss for the company’s fourth quarter and full year, ended
Dec. 31, while also filing for de-listing of
its common stock on the American Stock
Exchange. Including discontinued operations, Indianapolis-based Bell sustained a
fourth-quarter net loss of $7.2 million
compared with a net loss of $4.3 million
the year prior. For the full year, revenues
dipped to $119.9 from $120.3 million for
2006 while the company incurred a net
loss of $15.2 million versus a net loss of
$2.9 million a year ago. Bell supplies
products to the RV industry through a
Eagen, Minn. subsidiary. 6
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017-RVB0805 PG 17 SHURFLO
4/15/08
1:58 PM
Page 17
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4/18/08
1:35 PM
Page 18
The Spader Report
■
B Y
J O H N
S PA D E R
Are We Creating Price Buyers
or Value-Oriented Customers?
H
aving just finished giving a
Selling Skills Workshop, I
thought I would share some
of the questions and issues that
were covered in the workshop in
the hope that readers of this column might find an idea or two to
help them this season.
Transactional (Price Buyers) vs.
Relational (Value Buyers)
In the last few years I have read
many studies and articles about the
two types of consumers:
■ Those “who will drive 500
miles to save $100.”
■ Those “who will let you make
a buck.”
While the studies may not all
agree on what percentage of the
customers are “price buyers” versus what percentage are “value
buyers” (price buyers: 30-50% and
value buyers: 50-70%), they all
agree on the behaviors and characteristics of the two types. Here are
a few:
Price/Transactional Buyer
■ Buying is mainly based on
lowest price.
■ Fears only paying more than
had to pay.
■ Will shop and compare many
places to get the lowest price.
Value/Relational Buyer
■ Considers shopping time part
of the price.
■ Fear is they will buy the wrong
product or service.
■ Wants a trusted long-term relationship with a business and does
not want to spend time shopping.
The studies also agree that most
people can be both types of buyers,
depending on what product or service they are purchasing.
From my observations and experience of working with hundreds of
dealers during the last 19 years,
one of the biggest issues I see is
that salespeople often turn value
buyers into price buyers. I believe a
truly professional salesperson can
18
often convert price buyers to value
buyers. The following are a couple
of my personal experiences that
illustrate these two points:
The last time I bought a new vehicle, my son and I went shopping on
a Saturday morning with the intention of coming home with a new
vehicle. Before leaving I spent
about 20 minutes on the Internet
researching options packages. We
then set out to get our new vehicle.
Hours later, we came home very
frustrated — and without a vehicle.
We had stopped at three dealerships and talked to three salespeople. When I asked about the options
packages, all three told me that
what we wanted was not an option.
Even when they were shown the
printout, two of the three informed
me that though I found it on the
web, they were “sure” that they
could not get it and then started to
“tell” us what they thought we really needed to buy — without asking
me any questions about how the
vehicle was going to be used or
why we wanted that certain options
package. The third salesperson
took my printout and said he would
check into it, then came back 20
minutes later with the sales manager and, apparently, the goal of converting us to something they had
sitting on the lot instead of ordering
the unit we wanted.
We went home frustrated. I got
on the Internet, found the vehicle
we wanted (about 200 miles away),
and purchased it. We wanted to do
business locally and would have
gladly paid more to do so, but not
to a salesperson who would not listen to our wants and needs. This as
an example of where a “value”
buyer was turned into a “price”
buyer — because the customer
had to do all the work of finding
what was wanted and needed.
I will also share an example of the
opposite process taking place. Like
most
men, I
really
do not
l i k e
shopping for clothes. For many
years this was not a process that
was pleasant — or good for my
relationship with my wife. Once or
twice a year we would go shopping
together and buy the clothes needed for the next 6-12 months.
Rarely, when looking at clothes
(especially suits and dress clothes)
did we feel we were able to get very
good help or answers to our questions. We would just tell most clothing salespeople, “We will let you
know if we have questions,” and do
our best to stay away from them as
they seemed to make the process
harder, not easier, and most of the
time wanted us to buy what “they”
thought we should and not what fit
our personal preferences.
At the end of one tiring day of
shopping, we decided to make one
more stop and were greeted at the
door by a salesperson who asked
how he could help. I asked where
the sale rack for suits was and he
pointed; as I was getting ready to
tactfully tell him we wanted to look
alone and did not need his help, he
asked me a question no one had
ever asked before. “Do you need a
suit for work or leisure?” When I
told him I needed it for work, his
next question was, “Do you pack it
a lot and want a material that the
wrinkles will easily hang out or is
that not important to you?” An hour
or so later, I left the store with a
large purchase. This individual
actually made buying clothes very
“painless” for both my wife and
me. In a matter of 10 minutes he
knew more about my wants and
needs and had helped us more than
all the other clothing people I had
talked to through the years.
If you had told me I was going to
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019-RVB0805 PG 19 KEY CORP
4/15/08
3:46 PM
Page 19
!SINGLESOURCE-ANYFINANCINGOPTIONS
+EY2ECREATION,ENDINGTAKESTHETIMETOUNDERSTANDYOUR
DEALERSHIPSBUSINESS7ITHOVERYEARSOFEXPERIENCEINTHE
RECREATIONLENDINGINDUSTRY+EYPRIDESITSELFONDELIVERINGHIGHQUALITY
RESPONSIVESERVICETHROUGHKNOWLEDGEABLEPROFESSIONALS$EALERS
HAVEACCESSTOAWIDERANGEOFFINANCIALOPTIONSINCLUDING
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KEYCORP, CIRCLE 115 ON READER SERVICE CARD
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018-RVB_0805_LO_Spader_Rep
4/17/08
8:11 PM
Page 20
AQUA HOT, CIRCLE 136 ON READER SERVICE CARD
spend the amount of money on clothes I
did that day and feel good about it, I would
have said “You’re crazy!”
For the last 10 years, he has sent me a
note twice a year when their new clothes
come in. If I need something, I call and he
lays out several options for us. Rarely
does it take more than 30-45 minutes and
I am set for another six months. This is an
example of where a “price” buyer was
turned into a “value” buyer by a professional salesperson.
Key Questions
■ Would your customers and prospects
say your salespeople are creating Value
buyers or Price buyers?
■ What are your key questions or strategies that quickly differentiate you from
your competitors? (Example: Work or
leisure? I had talked to more than two
dozen clothing salespeople and no one
ever cut to the true needs like this person.)
To see if you are doing your best, a
good assessment question to ask yourself
— and your salespeople — is a question
we use in our sales training: If you were a
one-price store and there was no negotiating price and you and the customer
knew you were 5-10% higher-priced than
your competitors for the same product,
would you interact with and sell to the
customer differently than you do now?
When we ask this in our sales training,
most salespeople answer “yes.” When
asked what they would do differently, here
are some of the most common responses
we hear:
■ “I would work harder at building a
better relationship with the prospect up
front.”
■ “I would build more value into our
dealership.”
■ “I would not shortcut some things.”
■ I thought this next response summed
it up best. “I would have to become a lot
better salesperson than I am if I wanted to
have a decent paycheck.”
If you ask your salespeople the assessment question and receive responses similar to those above, the ultimate question
then becomes — “Even though we are not
a one price store, what would happen if we
would start to do these things right now?”
We wish you the best in the 2008
selling season. 6
An author, consultant and instructor, John Spader
has worked with a host of individual companies
(most frequently retail dealerships) in a variety of
industries. Spader Business Management — and
the network of 20 Groups for which is has largely
become known — blends statistical analysis and
hands-on coaching and consulting to assist clients
in formulating proven business plans and increasing revenues. Comments or suggestions can be sent
to: [email protected].
20
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021-
0805_NIF_NATM
4/18/08
1:35 PM
NEWS inFOCUS
Page 21
N AT M C O N FA B
Tire Record-Keeping Rule Hot Topic
at Annual NATM Confab; Attendees
Include Three Top Fed Administrators
TRADE ASSOCIATION
ECLIPSES 1,000-
In addition to hosting 497
representatives from 156
trailer builders, the NATM
confab included exhibitions
by 213 suppliers.
MEMBER MARK
HEADING INTO EXPO;
15 OTHERS JOIN AT
CONVENTION
B Y
B O B A S H L E Y
he National Association
of Trailer Manufacturers
(NATM), an emerging factor
in the U.S. trailer business,
met its goal of achieving 1,000
members prior to its 2008
Convention and Trade Show
February 27 - March 1 at the Las
Vegas Hilton.
“Our membership keeps
going up even though the
industry is down,” said Pam
O’Toole, executive director of
the Topeka, Kan., trade organization, largely comprised of
cargo, commercial and RV trailer makers. “We feel that’s
because we are helping our
members to keep a competitive advantage by giving them
tools to do what they do more
T
■
P H OTO S
B Y TO M
efficiently.”
In total, 1,475 people attended the Las Vegas convention/expo with the theme
“Don’t Gamble with Your
Company,” including 497
people representing 156
trailer builders. That was
a marked increase from
the 297 manufacturer
representatives
who
made it to NATM’s 2007
convention in Orlando,
Fla. Some 213 suppliers
manned 280 booths at
this year’s expo, which
the association capped to
give individual suppliers
more attention from
manufacturers.
“We had quite a few
M Y E R S
more people, and we had a lot
of non-members,” O’Toole said,
adding that 15 companies
Pam O’Toole
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21
021-
0805_NIF_NATM
4/17/08
8:08 PM
Outgoing NATM President Andy Gehman
addresses the convention. Travis Eby
was elected 2008 president.
joined during the convention.
“They attended the trade show,
liked what they saw and joined
on the spot.”
Other companies joining
NATM after the convention
through early April brought the
organization’s regular membership to 491 firms while 552
others were associate members, for a total of 1,043.
Membership now includes
more than a dozen RV manufacturers, including nine Thor
Industries Inc. subsidiaries that
manufacture towable RVs.
Among the hottest topics
during the convention was
NATM’s new tire record-keeping rule that went into effect
Jan. 1. “It’s a big issue for all
manufacturers,” O’Toole said,
who noted that NATM plans to
sponsor a seminar in the near
future with tire manufacturers
to discuss a more effective tire
record-keeping system.
“We need a better way to
keep track of tires so if there is
a defect, manufacturers know
which tires are on which trailers,” she said.
NATM was founded in 1987,
originally to represent livestock
and horse trailer dealers and
manufacturers, with a focus on
trailer safety. It has since
expanded to include cargo, utility, car-hauling and equestrian
trailers and towable RVs.
Page 22
The convention’s keynote
speaker was Rudy Ruettiger,
who, as a walk-on University of
Notre Dame football player, was
the subject of the inspirational
book and movie “Rudy.”
Seminar subjects included
humor and health, effective
communication,
adhesives,
recruiting better employees,
workers’ compensation, state
manufacturer
repurchase
requirements, dealer agreements, managing inventories,
product liability and wheel fastening systems.
Three federal administrators
— Larry Minor of the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Christina Morgan of the
National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration and George
Soodoo with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Vehicle
Dynamics Division — participated in a general regulatory rountable that NATM intends to
make a permanent convention
feature, O’Toole said.
“We thought it went well,”
O’Toole added. “We want to do
it every year. We had a lot of
questions.”
During a Feb. 27 board meeting, Travis Eby, vice president of
manufacturing operations for
livestock equipment maker
M.H. Eby Inc., Blue Ball, Pa.,
was elected president. Other
new officers are Vice President
Michael Terry, Cimarron Trailers
Inc., Chickasha, Okla., and
Treasurer Mike Skoglund, CarryOn Trailers, Lavonia, Ga. Rick
Coffey, Carlisle Tire and Wheel,
Aiken, S.C., was named to a
new associate membership
seat on the NATM executive
committee.
Brad Henning, M.H. Eby Inc.,
received the Bill Bernhardt
Outstanding Member Award;
Jeffrey Crabb, Diamond C
Trailer Manufacturers Inc.,
Mount
Pleasant,
Texas,
received the Young Entrepreneur Award; and Ed Brady,
Redneck Trailer
Supplies,
Springfield, Mo., and Dave
Mihalik, Thor Industries Inc.,
Jackson Center, Ohio, received
the
Branch
Membership
Award.
Other 2007 highlights:
■ Some 269 of 447 regular
members are participating in
NATM’s voluntary compliance
program which signifies that
trailers are being built to meet
NATM and National Highway
Safety Traffic Administration
(NHSTA) standards.
■ NATM established a confidentiality policy designed to
protect information the association collects for its members.
■ The organization created a
new logo and is operating an
updated Internet website.
■ The NATM marketing committee created a new membership brochure and tradeshow
display booth.
■ NATM distributed posters
and tabletop displays to trailer
dealers to promote manufacturers participating in the voluntary
compliance program.
■ The trade association joined
the American Association of
Motor Vehicle Administrators
with the intention of lobbying
for a federal uniform brake law.
The 2009 NATM Convention/
Expo is scheduled for Feb. 2428 at the Charleston (S.C.)
Convention Center. 6
Rudy Ruettiger
22
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023-RVB0805 PG 23 SPADER
4/15/08
1:55 PM
Page 23
The difference between seeing the possibilities
and knowing which is right for your business.
Imagine knowing exactly where to focus your efforts to improve your business.
Spader Business Management shows you how. With innovative workshops like
Total Management 1 and 2, 20 Groups, and consulting programs that can give
you the confidence and understanding you need to make the right decisions.
Change the right things. Take the right actions for the current situation. And take
your company to new levels of profitability and production even in tough markets.
For more information on what Spader can do for you, visit spader.com or call
800.772.3377. And learn how to work on your business.
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007-RVB_0805_LO_TOP
4/18/08
4:27 PM
Page 24
of the NEWS
Morgan RV Resorts
from page 14
COACH GLASS INC., CIRCLE 119 ON READER SERVICE CARD
training session in late February at its office
in Queensbury.
Morgan, meanwhile, is coming off its “best
year yet in terms of occupancy and revenues,”
Moser said, and looks forward to another
good year in 2008.
Moser said his company will make a multimillion investment in adding a new roller
coaster to Indiana Beach and will seek to
acquire additional amusement parks.
For his part, Rob Schutter Jr., president of
Leisure Systems Inc. (LSI), franchisor of the
Yogi Bear parks, welcomed the latest Morgan
acquisition. “Morgan Management appears
to be very interested in getting into the various components of the outdoor recreation
industry,” Schutter told RVBusiness. “They
are very committed to not only the camping
industry but other recreation venues. This fits
into their long-range business plans. We wish
them well with their acquisition.”
The deal has been in the works since
December when representatives of Morgan
learned about Indiana Beach through the
campground industry and contacted the
Spackman family, according to the Monticello
Herald Journal.
At this point few immediate changes are
in store for the Indiana Beach operation,
according to Spackman family spokesman
Tom Spackman Jr. “I feel this is a very nice
fit for Indiana Beach because of their
strength in the camping industry,” Spackman told the newspaper. – Steve Bibler 6
Assemblyman Proposes
Privatization of N.J. Parks
CAMCO, INC., CIRCLE 121 ON READER SERVICE CARD
New Jersey Assemblyman John
Wisniewski has suggested allowing private
companies to operate state parks in order
to save the state money.
Facing a multibillion-dollar shortfall,
the state has proposed closing nine parks
and reducing services at three others. It is
estimated that the closings would save the
state about $4.5 million. About two million people last year visited the parks targeted to close. The parks would close July
1, the height of the busy summer season.
Wisniewski said the state should request
proposals from private campground operators and companies that run recreation
sites to get a better sense of whether public-private partnerships could work.
“They would be responsible for the
upkeep, for taking the trash out, but then
we take those costs off our books, and the
people of the state could still use those
natural areas,” said Wisniewski, DMiddlesex. 6
24
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025-RVB_0805_LO_NIF-Newmar
4/18/08
NEWS inFOCUS
4:02 PM
Page 25
N E W M A R C O R P O R AT I O N
Newmar Debuts ‘Entry-Level’ Class A for HighEnd Diesel-Pusher Market, Upgraded Interiors
During 2009 Product Rollout in South Bend
Newmar’s 2009 updates include a new floorplan
for its Ventana diesel pusher (shown). According
to Pat Terveer, director of sales, the company
also replaced its oak cabinetry in favor of Baltic
Beech “which has a more modern look.”
Company Combines Towable, Motorized Dealer Meetings; ‘It
Allows for Cross-Selling,’ Noted Sales Director Pat Terveer
B Y
DAV E
B A R B U L E S C O
■
ewmar Corp.’s longstanding commitment to
innovation — reaffirmed when Matthew Miller
took over as president two years ago — was evident in the company’s new product rollout March 1014 at the Century Center in South Bend, Ind.
During the event, attended by representatives from
62 dealerships, Newmar unveiled its 2009 lineup that
introduced a Dutch Aire brand of diesel-powered
Class A motorhomes — positioned as an “entrylevel” into the company's high-end, luxury coaches
— along with a 39-foot gas Class A Canyon Star sport
utility recreational vehicle (SURV) that features a fullyappointed bedroom with a queen-sized bed.
“I think our new products are representative of
Newmar’s tradition of innovation,” said Miller.
“Sometimes the marketplace doesn’t know yet that it
wants what it wants. When people see something
new, something different, then they see the need.
N
P H OTO S
B Y
M A R K
S H E P H A R D
Our approach in developing new products has been to
build units that stand out in the marketplace.”
Miller acknowledged that breaking through the clutter was even more important in a tight market. In
(L-R) Newmar Corp. executives John Sammut, vice president of sales and marketing,
Richard Parks, CEO and chairman, and Matthew Miller, president, were on hand as
the company unvieled its new product line in South Bend.
MAY
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025-RVB_0805_LO_NIF-Newmar
4/17/08
8:59 PM
Page 26
February, the Nappanee, Ind.-based high-end motorhome
and fifth-wheel builder — like many manufacturers in the
industry — implemented a 13% cutback in the company’s work force designed to bring production in line with
demand. Miller, however, remained confident that consumers “will continue to afford the things they enjoy.”
Newmar is banking buyers will respond to the styling
and amenities packaged into the all-new Dutch Aire line.
Available in seven floorplans from 40- to 43-feet with
base retail prices ranging from $288,000 to $322,000,
the Dutch Aire hits a key price point in the diesel market.
“We needed a product in the lower end of the high end,”
said Kyle McCrary, director of luxury products.
The coach is equipped with a Spartan Mountain
Master GT chassis — 34,600-pound GVWR on the 40foot models, 46,000-pound GVWR on the 43-footers —
mated with a 425-hp Cummins ISL engine. Drivability is
achieved through the Comfort Drive steering system
that “compensates for crosswinds or crowns in the road
and greatly reduces steering efforts for parking, backing
up and cornering,” according to McCrary.
All but one model offers four slides, including the 4317
floorplan that features a full-wall, driver-side slideroom
that runs the length of the living area.
Other features include: centralized A/C ducting system; a portable GPS system that is available throughout
Newmar’s product lines; polished porcelain floors; HD
component wiring and HD-ready video switching system; full-paint “Masterpiece” clear-coat exterior finish;
multiple cabinet styles in both contemporary and
traditional styling; and a 30-inch convection oven and
four-door refrigerator with icemaker in the kitchen.
Newmar’s Canyon Star extends the company’s penetration into the motorized toy hauler sector that includes the
“Ultimate Tailgater” All Star diesel-pusher series that hit
the market last year and is built on Spartan’s
mid-engine chassis.
“This is a really unique floorplan that gives consumers
a comfortable place to sleep with a queen-sized bed versus a convertible sofa or bunk beds,” said Pat Terveer,
director of sales, noting the Canyon Star could easily
sleep 10.
With a base retail price of $136,700, the double-slide
Canyon Star is built on the new 26,000-pound GVWR
Ford F-53 chassis. The 10-foot deep garage area sports a
1,500-pound capacity for storing vehicles and is available
with a pull-down screen. LCD TVs are included in the living area and the on-board garage, while the kitchen
offers a convection microwave.
26
“The
key in
t h i s
market
is to be
LEFT: Dutch Aire is positioned as an “entry-level”
ve r s a into Newmar’s high-end luxury diesel pushers.
t i l e ,
ABOVE: New 39-foot gas Canyon Star SURV.
meeting all
those diverse demographic groups that are
buying the motorized toy haulers,” Terveer noted.
Not on display, but with a planned launch in the spring,
is an SURV floorplan in Newmar’s All Star and
X-Aire fifth-wheel line that will split the rear of the coach
into side-by-side garage and living areas.
Management also reported that the majority of
Newmar’s offerings in its 2009 lineup had undergone
life-cycle changes.
“We did a lot of things to give our products a new look
while introducing new floorplans throughout the line,”
said Terveer. “In several models, we’re showing new
decors and are using more rounded edges that reflect
European styling. We also dropped all our oak cabinetry
and replaced it with Baltic Beech, which has a more
modern look.”
Product changes of note were highlighted by a
makeover on Newmar’s Dutch Star Class A diesel pusher
series that included all-new front and rear caps, newlystyled dash, and an upgrade in flooring and soft goods.
Terveer also noted that the company’s Cypress line of
fifth-wheels is now equipped with an aerodynamic front
cap providing a 60-degree turning radius that allows for
towing by wide-body, short-bed pickup trucks. “This was
something are dealers have been asking for,” said
Terveer.
Mike Naber, president of Midway RV Center, Grand
Rapids, Mich., which has handled Newmar since 1991,
said that the 2009 lineup provided a “strong value”
against competitive models.
“There is a lot of bang for the buck,” Naber said. “They
dressed up their interiors, offered a lot of new features,
and were still able to keep their pricing in line.”
Newmar instituted a change in its format for this year’s
dealer meeting by combining its towable and motorized
sessions instead of holding separate gatherings.
“It made sense to hold the meetings at the same
time,” Terveer said. “It allows for cross-selling, maybe
picking up a dealer that was strictly towable for our
motorized products.” 6
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007-RVB_0805_LO_TOP
4/18/08
1:54 PM
Page 27
NEWS
from page 12
personnel changes scheduled to occur
at Drew Industries’ May 28 board
meeting. At the same time, Joseph
S. Giordano III, current corporate
controller and treasurer, will take
over as CFO while retaining his
duties as treasurer; and Christopher
L. Smith, current assistant controller,
will succeed Giordano as corporate
controller.
“Fred has played an instrumental
role in Drew’s success and expansion,” said Abrams. “Fred has helped
lead Drew as we grew from a small
company, with sales of $41 million in
1981, to become a leading producer of
components for RVs and manufactured homes. During Fred’s tenure,
Drew completed more than 20 acquisitions, we diversified our product
line, and we expanded our capabilities
coast-to-coast.”
According to Drew, its acquisition
of Seattech adds an entirely new
product line for LCI, a chassis and
component supplier to the RV and
manufactured housing industries.
Seattech, also based in Goshen,
manufactures a wide variety of products primarily for towable RVs,
including folding sofas for toy
haulers, a full line of upholstered furniture, mattresses, decorative pillows,
wood-backed valences and quilted
soft good products.
Drew stated that Seattech’s sales for
2007 were approximately $40 million,
which represents significant growth
from its $11 million in sales in 2003.
“We look to continue this pace of
growth in 2008 as Seattech builds
market share, despite the anticipated
RV industrywide sales decline in
2008 due to current poor economic
conditions,” said Abrams.
“LCI will determine the viability of
using its nationwide factory network
to expand the territorial reach of
Seattech’s manufacturing and marketing capabilities,” said Jason Lippert,
LCI’s president and CEO. “In addition, we also plan to explore other
markets, such as RV motorhomes and
the manufactured housing and
marine industries, in which Seattech’s
products may have a potential
market.” 6
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Contents
028-RVB_0805_LO_Winne_Fore
4/17/08
7:17 PM
Page 28
WINNEBAGO IN
WINNEBAGO, U
FOREST CITY, IOWA IS, AS NOTED BY ONE RESIDENT, “OUT
IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE” — YET THIS HARD-WORKING,
AGRARIAN-BASED COMMUNITY IS HOME TO A COMPANY THAT HAS
FLIRTED WITH THE FORTUNE 500 AND HAS SALES NEARING $1 BILLION
ANNUALLY. 50 YEARS AGO, PERHAPS ONLY ONE MAN — WINNEBAGO
INDUSTRIES INC. FOUNDER JOHN K. HANSON — SAW IT COMING.
BY DAVE BARBULESCO
■
PHOTOS BY SHAWN SPENCE
he vestiges of a long, wearisome winter — even by
Iowa’s hardy standards — were still evident along
Forest City’s downtown area in early March as icicles
draped from business fronts and people moved quickly to
avoid the discomfort of a near-zero wind chill.
Forest City in many ways typifies the patchwork of
mid-sized towns that inhabit this part
of the country. The surrounding
landscape is dominated by farmland bearing the endless rows of
corn, soybean and various other
crops that have provided the livelihood for generation upon generation of families across the Midwest.
Church is ingrained in this predominantly Lutheran region. So is a
solid work ethic. And this time of
year high school basketball consumes residents, many of whom
were impatiently watching the
clock on a recent Thursday afternoon, planning an early departure
from work to cheer on the hometown
T
28
Indians who made a valiant run into
the Class 3A semifinals.
Also typical, Forest City’s
downtown is showing
signs of attrition, an
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1:33 PM
Page 29
IES
WI N
TR
AD
YYEE
AA RS
Y
, U.S.A.
FIFT
INDUSTRIES
AGO INDUS
B
B
EE
E
Forest City is the smallest town to have a full-sized facility — along with bike paths, nature walks and an 18-hole
golf course.
Above all else, however, Forest City is renown for its link
with another American icon — it’s home to Winnebago
Industries Inc., whose brand name has become synonymous with the term “RV” since its founding 50 years ago
by local entrepreneur John K. Hanson.
WELCOME TO WINNEBAGO, U.S.A.
MAY
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H
ON T
Waldorf College, one of the many institutions in Forest City that’s benefited from
the town’s half-century association with
Winnebago Industries.
unfortunate plight for business districts proudly
built up by local entrepreneurs and then slowly
worn down by the “one-stop-shop” concept that
drives today’s retail sector. Several of the small,
family-owned shops on Main Street are boarded
up, while others are struggling to stay open. It’s
tough to compete when people can drive a halfhour to Mason City or Charles City and browse the
oversized aisles at the collection of ‘Big Box’ retail
stores and discount chain outlets.
But there are also a number of qualities that distinguish
Forest City as an attractive and thriving community. It
serves as the Winnebago County seat, which makes the
town a focal point in local affairs. The public school system is strong, offering a feeder for Waldorf College that
has expanded its Forest City campus and now offers
four-year degrees in a respected liberal arts program. The
quality of life is enhanced by a state-of-the-art YMCA —
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Page 30
Winnebago’s roots run deep through Forest City — and the RV industry.
Its earliest efforts centered on travel trailers (far right) before the company built its first motorhome in 1966, evolving into the contemporary
Class A coaches and Sprinter-based Class C’s (left).
Winnebago’s sprawling campus, which broke ground in 1968,
sits imposingly on the outskirts of town, encompassing more
than 21⁄2 million square feet and situated on 570 acres that
includes its “Rally Grounds” and visitors center. The site represents the last of several moves as the company expanded —
one the result of a major fire that leveled operations in 1964.
Many of Winnebago’s approximately 3,350 workers live in
guards posted at each entrance into the complex checking in
visitors and monitoring the steady flow of trucks bringing in
materials. Winnebago’s size also demands its own water tower
along with an on-site maintenance department that not only
handles machinery repairs but oversees general upkeep at the
facility, including snow removal and grass cutting.
The company’s Forest City work force even rivals the town’s
population: 2,600 at Winnebago, versus a 4,500 populace in
Forest City. Underscoring the firm’s impact, its average weekly
payroll totals around $2 million.
Winnebago’s autonomy carries over to its manufacturing
strategy, as well; it is vertically integrated to the point that “there
are very few components or production processes that are not
handled in-house,” according to Sheila Davis, public relations
and investor relations director, noting that the setup is not just
because of its remote location but also a key in controlling
product quality.
Despite its self-reliance, Winnebago and the local community have nurtured a symbiotic relationship through the years. The
Hanson family’s imprint, now represented by the Hanson
Foundation and complemented by the Winnebago Foundation,
is everywhere. Donations funded the YMCA, a new library at
Waldorf College, an assortment of grants and scholarships,
“Forest City provided a strong foundation – we had a strong
lot of good things in place before Winnebago. But they filled
to say that I'm not sure what Forest City would be like without
Forest City, but the company also provides a steady paycheck
for residents in surrounding communities — a relationship that
was amplified when it built satellite facilities in Hampton and
Charles City that added approximately 500,000 square feet of
manufacturing space.
“Our influence goes beyond Forest City’s city limits,” said Bob
Olson, who will expand his responsibilities as president by
assuming the roles of chairman and CEO when Bruce Hertzke
retires this month. “Anybody in a 60-mile area, and in about 22
communities around Forest City, has felt the benefits of having
Winnebago here.”
In many respects, the motorhome giant’s headquarters has
evolved into its own self-supporting municipality. A designated
postal truck travels through the maze of manufacturing and
administrative buildings every workday. Security is tight, with
Phil Hansen, behind the counter of his family’s 100-year-old hardware store.
30
countless other projects — many focusing on the arts — and
even the back nine at the golf course.
Phil Hansen, who runs his family’s 100-year-old hardware
store in Forest City, summed up Winnebago’s impact on the
Iowa township. “Forest City provided a strong foundation — we
had a strong business community and a lot of good things in
place before Winnebago. But they filled in the holes. I guess it’s
fair to say that I’m not sure what Forest City would be like without Winnebago.”
By the same token, it’s hard to say what Winnebago would be
like without the region’s dedicated work force.
“People have the expectation that you come to work to do a
good job and that you give the hours to get that done,” Olson
said. “I’d put our workers up against anybody in this industry and
probably several other industries. It’s one of those situations
where Winnebago has been good to its employees — and the
employees have been good back to Winnebago.”
R E C R U ITI N G H O M E G R O WN TA LE NT
Winnebago’s upper management offers a striking representation of the company’s homegrown work force. Hertzke and
Olson both grew up in the area. And both started on the assembly line before working their way up into management.
“Bob and I are prime examples of people taking advantage of
working for Winnebago, and growing, and moving our way up to
eventually have positions in a Fortune 500 company,” Hertzke
said. “The opportunities are definitely here, although we are in a
small rural setting.
“The average employee out on our production line has been
here in excess of 12 years. Our average designer in research
and development is in excess of 15 years and our management group is in excess of 20 years. That says a lot about this
company.”
Olson added, “I started in 1969 when we were beginning to
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A HALF-CENTURY OF HIGHLIGHTS
get some momentum. I’ll be the first to say, I came over here in
the summer so that I could earn some money for college …
and 39 years later I’m still here.”
Olson, however, is a few years behind many of Winnebago’s
workers in terms of longevity, including Bob Eames, who is simply referred to as “No. 1” in deference to his 45 years on the
job and status as the company’s longest-term employee.
“I just got out of high school when I started,” said Eames, 64,
who through the years has worked in about every capacity for
the builder. “We were building travel trailers back then, before
we got into motorhomes. It’s been a good experience, and now
I have two daughters that are here. Working for Winnebago
really has been my life.”
Eames acknowledges that, in some ways, he was destined to
hire on at Winnebago.
“When I was born, my dad took me over to John K.’s, I guess
to show off his son,” Eames said. “John K. said that he hoped I
would someday work for Winnebago. Looks like he was right.”
Harlan Rodberg, 63, is also in his 45th year at Winnebago,
just a tick behind Eames.
“Right now I’m ‘No. 2’,” Rodberg said. “But Bob said he’s retiring in a year-and-a-half, so I plan to outlast him. It’s been a good
job for me, and for a lot of people in this community. If I was 18-
g
d
t
business community and a
in the holes. I guess it's fair
Winnebago.” – Forest City resident Phil Hansen
years-old again, I’d start over and do the same thing.”
Rodberg said he earned $1.25 an hour when hired, but
quickly moved up to $1.40 an hour. “Those were good wages
back then, and it was steady,” he said.
And it was challenging. “It was pretty exciting back when
things were starting out,” he said. “We had to figure things out
as we went along. Basically we were building these trailers by
memory — installing the gas appliances and running the wiring.”
Rodberg, who remembers a lot of 12-hour days, attributes
that type of ingenuity to the heavy farming presence in the
region.
“Of the first 75 or so workers, I’d say about half were farmers, and it may have been more,” he said. “I really think it was
that background that helped get Winnebago off the ground.”
I N G E N U ITY D R IVE S EAR LY WO R K FO R C E
John V. Hanson, the middle child of John K. and Luise
Hanson’s three offspring, agreed that Northern Iowa’s culture
has been key in Winnebago’s success.
Winnebago employee Dan
Newton does a final inspection and signoff at the CDI
custom paint facility.
WINNEBAGO’S GOLDEN YEARS
1955– Forest City (population: 2,500) Chamber of Commerce establishes the Forest City
Industrial Development Committee (FCIDC) to search for new business.
1957– John K. Hanson, a member of FDIDC, studies feasibility of
persuading a trailer company to open a Forest City plant. Stock in
Forest City Industries Inc. is sold at $100 per share to raise capital for the acquisition.
1958– Modernistic Industries of Iowa incorporated on Feb. 12. On
March 19, the first travel trailer rolls off production line, a 15-foot Aljo.
1957
1959– Hanson becomes
president of Modernistic Industries of Iowa
after five Forest City residents — Hanson,
Elliott Cooper, John C. Thompson, Sam
Glime and Ben Carter — buy the division
from parent company. Soon thereafter,
Hanson buys out other investors. On March
2, the first Winnebago trailer comes off the
line. In the fall, the new company offers free
John K. Hanson
delivery anywhere in the continental U.S.
1960– Company stages its first “Dealer Days” event, and 102 dealers attend. Also this
year: Stitchcraft is started in the basement of Hanson’s furniture business to manufacture
upholstered goods for the trailers.
1960– Company changes its name from Modernistic Industries of Iowa to Winnebago
Industries Inc., named after the county where the company was (and still is) located. “Flying
W” becomes the company symbol. Winnebago enjoys its first $1 million sales year.
1963– Winnebago Industries develops Thermo-Panel, a lightweight, strong
insulation material sandwiched between
aluminum and laminated plywood that
soon replaces the conventional wood
construction on all Winnebago models.
1963
1964– Winnebago production facility
is destroyed by fire early on the morning of Sept. 24. Within three weeks, ground is broken
on what would become the North Plant; facility is complete just five months later.
1965– On May 5, shortly after completion of the new plant, work begins on another
building that will add two additional travel trailer and camper coach lines; it begins operation in June.
1966– Winnebago begins production on its first self-contained motorhome, a 19-footer
called the F-19. Later, the renowned D22 hits production. The first Winnebago National Rally
is held at Forest City, drawing 155 trailers; shortly thereafter, the Winnebago International
Travelers Club — forerunner of the Winnebago-Itasca Travelers Club — is formed. In June,
Winnebago has its first $1 million sales month.
1968– Ground is broken for a
new manufacturing and shipping
facility; on November 7, the ribbon is
cut for the opening of “Big Bertha,”
which still houses the main production lines for the company. On
September 19, Winnebago cele1968
brates is first $1 million delivery day.
1969– New top-of-the-line Chieftain motorhome is introduced.
1970– Winnebago Industries is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on
September 9. Motorhome production moves to a new, vertically integrated plant.
1971– Winnebago stock (symbol:
WGO) appreciates 464%, gaining
more than any other company listed
on the NYSE.
1971
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8FSF:PVS
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Bob Eames, current “No. 1” Winnebago employee.
“The people in Northern Iowa are
good, hard working people — a lot of
them from Scandinavian or German
descent,” said Hanson, who still holds a
spot on the company’s board. “They’re
from farming backgrounds, so they’re
used to putting in a long day’s work and
they’re accustomed to working with
their hands. For sure that’s been a plus.
I guess in some respects it’s similar to
what happened in Elkhart (Ind.) with the
heavy Amish population.
“Winnebago has always provided a
flexible working environment for the
farmers,” he added. “Even today, a lot of
our employees still farm.”
Marlen Hanson (no relation) was
among the first group of 12 employees
that went to work for what was then
Modernistic Industries Inc., a trailer
builder which eventually evolved into
Winnebago Industries. He confirmed
that thinking on your feet was a job
requirement.
“For the first several days we didn’t
even have an assembly line,” he said. “We
just started putting them together. We
would literally push these 13-foot trailers
around by hand.
“Almost all of those first workers were
farmers. They were our welders
because they were already self-taught
engineers, having had to work on and
repair farm equipment.”
Rodberg, who saw
the company move
from trailer production
into
motorhomes,
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32
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1972– As a measure of Winnebago Industries’ success,
by mid-year each 100 shares of stock purchased in 1966
at $12.50 per share had grown, through stock splits, into
32,000 shares — with a total net value of $1.5 million.
1973– Winnebago hits production of 600 motorhomes
a week, with some 3,200 employees. Company is written
up in Playboy Magazine, in an article (“Oh, Little Town of
Millionaires”) that chronicles the sudden wealth of local
citizens. A new 400,000-square-foot warehouse is put
into operation.
1974– Company introduces the Winnie Wagon,
a smaller motorhome created to fit inside a typical
garage.
1975– Itasca line of
1974
motorhomes is introduced.
1976– John K. Hanson retires.
1977– Winnebago becomes the first RV manufacturer to
build its 100,000th unit, a 29-foot Elandan II luxury coach.
A new 17,000-square-foot test facility is opened in Forest
City,
and
Winnebago
also builds a
120,000square-foot
plant
in
Riverside,
Calif., to build
1981
C-b o dy
motorhomes; it also leases a 66,000-square-foot plant in
Asheville, N.C., for customizing vans. (Both would close in
1980 after changes in market demands.)
1978– Winnebago and Itasca lines grow to include 23
different motorhome models. Production is temporarily halted (May-July) to move all production lines to the company’s
south campus — the current location of Winnebago
Industries’ Forest City facilities.
1979– John K. Hanson resumes management of the
company.
19 8 1–
Company
introduces
t h e
Winnebago
1981
Warrior
and Itasca Spectrum, lightweight models that nearly double
fuel economy compared to traditional coaches.
1983– Winnebago introduces streamlined LeSharo and
Phasar motorhomes powered by Renault diesel engines;
units were said to deliver in excess of 22 mpg. Winnebago
also licenses its brand name to a range of products, from
men’s apparel to camping equipment. Company celebrates
its 25th anniversary.
1986
1984– Winnebago
sales top $400 million, a 72% improvement over 1983.
1986– Winnebago
becomes first motorhome manufacturer
User Guide
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033-RVB0805 PG 33 WORKHORS
4/15/08
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Page 33
CONGRATULATIONS, WINNEBAGO, ON 50 YEARS OF EXPLORING AMERICA’S HIGHWAYS.
AND EVEN SOME OF THE BACK ROADS.
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Page 34
recalled, “There weren’t any blueprints
when we started building the
motorhomes. Several farmers just sat
down and figured out how to weld the
first chassis. Once they got the chassis
complete, we started building up. I
remember on that first prototype, we got
it almost done and were putting in the
windshield. That’s when we realized it
would need some wipers.”
Rodberg noted that the coach’s maiden voyage was a tense one.
“John V. and a couple of other guys
took it to Leland, which was about five
miles down the road. We were all pretty
nervous. It was really something to see
them pull back in. That was a big step for
the company.”
Marlen Hanson said that Winnebago’s
progress was closely watched by Forest
City townspeople.
“Not everybody was convinced this
was going to work, but John K. knew the
RV industry would take off,” he said.
“Everybody was always asking us how
things were going. The whole town really wanted the company to be a success,
especially since a lot of the farm jobs
were starting to disappear.”
W I N N E BA G O R E V ITA LIZ E S F O R E ST C IT Y
As much as Winnebago means to
Forest City now, its presence may have
been more vital when the company was
founded in 1958. Many farmers were
struggling and the business environment
was changing.
“We were desperate to bring in some
type of industry that would generate
jobs,” said Ben Carter, an original
investor in Winnebago who owned The
Forest City Summit newspaper. “We had
a strong business sector then — six
hardware stores, three car dealerships,
three furniture stores and several
department stores. But the Chamber of
Commerce saw that the number of customers was diminishing, which meant a
lot of the retail jobs would be in jeopardy.
That was happening at the same time as
the number of farms was diminishing.
We formed the Forest City Industrial
Development Committee to counteract
those economic trends.”
John V. Hanson noted, “The farms
were getting bigger, which meant less
jobs, and people were more mobile, more
willing to shop elsewhere. Forest City
needed something more than what it
had, which was pretty much retail.”
He said that his father’s love of camping proved to be a lightning rod toward
attracting a new industry.
“John K. had an interest in trailers — he
would travel to Colorado to buy these
Aljo trailers direct that were built by
a California company, Modernistic
Industries,” Hanson said. “He had been
unsuccessful in an International
Harvester dealership, so a building was
to celebrate 20 years of production. The same year, its
200,000th coach, a 37-foot Elandan, rolls off assembly line.
Winnebago appears on the Fortune 500 for first time —
ranked No. 340 in net income and No. 194 in net income as
percentage of stockholders’ equity.
1987– Company introduces new Winnebago Superchief
and Itasca Suncruiser lines, ranging in length from 27 to 34
feet, that feature basement storage.
1988– International sales are expanded, and an agreement is reached with Mitsubishi Corp. to sell and service
Winnebago and Itasca motorhomes in Japan.
1989– Company achieves record revenues of $437.5 million; however, poor market conditions result in a net loss of
$4.7 million. Superchief and Suncruiser lines are stretched
with introduction of new 40-footers.
1990–
Wi n n e b a g o
enters the
“micro-mini”
m otorh ome
arena with the
Wi n n e b a g o
1990
Warrior and
Itasca Spirit, which soon account for more than 60% of the
entire micro market.
1992– In March, the company celebrates the production
of its 250,000th motorhome. Vectra is introduced as the
company’s first “bus-styled” basement unit.
1 9 9 3 –
Winnebago celebrates its 35th
anniversary. For
the first time, the
company reaps
1993
an annual profit
of 30% from the year prior. Winnebago introduces “widebody” model to Minnie Winnie and Itasca Sundancer lines.
1994– The Rialta — a 21-foot FWD motorhome built on
a Volkswagen chassis — and the top-of-the-line Luxor diesel
pusher are introduced to appeal to two different market
niches.
1996– Winnebago mourns the passing of founder and
Chairman of the Board John K. Hanson. The company
launches its “TripSaver” service program, intended to generate rapid warranty parts shipments.
1998–
Winnebago
hits three
milestones:
It celebrates
its 40th
anniversary,
1998
the production of its 300,000th motorhome, and hits record sales and
earnings. Top-of-the-line Ultimate coach debuts.
1999– Company is recognized by Statistical Surveys Inc.
for achieving top sales in both Class A and Class C
motorhomes for the Winnebago brand.
2000– Expansion of a facility in Charles City creates the
only motorhome production conducted outside the compacontinued on page 67
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035-RVB0805 PG 35 MCCLAINS
4/15/08
1:57 PM
Page 35
!
O
G
A
B
E
N
N
I
I
N
V
W
N
E
A
R
Y
S
R
A
H
T
O
5
Y
P
P
A
H
Ode To Winnebago - 50 YEARS ON THE ROAD
50 Years on the road. On a Journey where their Spirit did lead them.
A Warrior and Brave Adventurer in search of the Ultimate Freedom.
Lending Access to View a Sunrise from the Horizon of an Indian land.
Or have an Impulse to Tour a Vista of a Chalet on desert sand.
Wherever the Voyage or Destination you have always been the Chieftain.
No matter the Latitude or longitude you were the Sightseer with the plan.
Taking flight like a Navion across the universe to a Sunstar or Sunova.
You’re the Suncruiser Centauri like the Great Explorer Cordoba.
You have the Ultimate Advantage when they put you to the test.
Whether by Aspect or by Outlook you are certainly the best.
You have let us see the moon Ellipse slipping slowly into the ocean.
We’d jump and go in our LeSharo at slightest travel notion.
We dream our Windcruisers and Sunflyers to Luxor on the Nile.
While the Cambria of the industry births a Meridian filled with style.
“Elandan Rialta Vectra Phasar” is a language all it’s own.
John K. Hanson planted a seed 50 years ago and look what it has grown.
We’ve made memories in our Minnie Winnies from sea to shining sea.
Congratulations for the past 50 years. We look forward to what the next 50 shall be.
-McClain’s RV Superstores
Ode written by Don Sagraves, McClain’s Ft. Worth Parts - Service Director
OKLAHOMA
CITY
DENTON
MCKINNEY
FT. WORTH
ROCKWALL
www.mcclainsrv.com
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Page 37
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038-RVB_0805_LO_Winne_Q&A.
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Page 38
CHANGING
OF
THE GUARD
&
■
B Y
■
P H O T O S
S H E R M A N
B Y
G O L D E N B E R G
S H A W N
S P E N C E
ON THE EVE OF THE RETIREMENT OF BRUCE HERTZKE, WINNEBAGO INDUSTRIES INC.
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, HERTZKE AND INCOMING CHAIRMAN/CEO/PRESIDENT BOB OLSON SHARE
THEIR INSIGHTS INTO THE FUTURE OF THE RV INDUSTRY’S TOP MOTORHOME MANUFACTURER
t was just a twist of fate that management succession at Winnebago Industries
Inc. coincided with the northern Iowa company’s 50th anniversary — and that
the following Q&A interview served dual purposes. At the same time we were
trying to shed some light at the half-century mark on Winnebago, we also had
the opportunity of interviewing the outgoing and incoming CEOs as the changing
of the guard in Forest City, Iowa, was about to take place.
The company confirmed Mar. 27 that Bob Olson, who had served as president
since May 2007, would assume the additional titles of chairman and CEO, effective May 5. At the same time, Bruce Hertzke, a well-known industry executive
who recently held the elected position of chairman of the Recreation Vehicle
Industry Association (RVIA), is resigning as chairman and CEO to take an early
retirement. Earlier, Hertzke had relinquished the title of president in 2005 to
Ed Barker as part of the company’s succession plan.
In the end, it all worked perfectly for RVBusiness because our two 56-yearold interviewees seemed to so perfectly exemplify what 2,900-employee
Winnebago Industries Inc. is all about. What we mean by that is that Hertzke
and Olson are both straight-talking, hard-working area natives and veterans of
a corporate system at Winnebago that cultivates and trains its own people and
reportedly does its best to keep them around for the long haul by paying a
decent wage, treating people with respect and promoting from within. Both are
married fathers of two.
Hertzke, from Lakota, Iowa, about 30 miles to the west, has spent 36 years
with Winnebago, a major area employer south of Minneapolis that draws employees from a 60-mile radius and has an annual payroll of about $120 million. A
native of Osage, Iowa, Olson has logged 38 years at Winnebago, having gone to
work there in 1969 to earn some money for college. “Bob and I are prime examples of people taking advantage of working for a company and growing and
I
38
moving our way up to positions in nationally recognized companies, people who
deal with Wall Street,” said Hertzke, who has an associate degree in business
management and accounting and started out on an assembly line before moving
into management. “The opportunities are definitely here, although we are in a
small rural setting.”
“I went to the ‘University of Winnebago’ is what I call it,” added Olson, who
first worked on the line at the north plant and whose American Production
Inventory Control Society certification was underwritten by Winnebago. “Working
on the line gave us a better understanding of how to deal with our hourly employees. We were there. We walked in their shoes. It’s important that they know that
we understand and that we treat them with respect and dignity and give them
the benefits.”
Out of this environment was spawned a publicly held company that exceeded
a billion dollars in sales for the first time in 2004 and in 2007 accounted for
15.2% of the combined gas and diesel Class A motorhome market, 24% of the
Class C arena and 18.6% of the combined Class A & C motorhome marketplace.
RVB: Sitting here in your corporate offices in Forest City on your
company’s 50th anniversary in business, it seems pertinent to ask you
two what Winnebago stands for today?
OLSON: I think we’ve got two different audiences that we mean different
things to. To our customers, we mean a quality product that gives you your value
for your dollar and allows you to participate in a recreational lifestyle that is
absolutely one of the best things you can do in life. I think we’ve got another
audience that is our employees, management and shareholders that we want to
be the most profitable in the industry.
There’s two separate audiences with two objectives.
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Bob Olson and Bruce Hertzke enjoy a moment
while leaning against one of Winnebago’s iconic
motorhomes from the past, a 1967 D22.
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RVB: Winnebago’s also known within the
industry as a leader in dealer relations, which is
ARS
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one of the reasons you’ve always scored so well
ON T
in RVDA’s annual DSI rankings.
HERTZKE: Yes, and we’re also a leader in product innovation, considering the
number of innovative products we’ve introduced through the years.
RVB: And in the big picture, no offense, Winnebago is probably widely
perceived as a “mainstream” manufacturer in terms of products, sort of the
“Chevy” or “Ford” of the U.S. recreational vehicle business.
OLSON: No offense taken. I’ve used that line with our financial community. We
are known as the Chevy/Ford of RVs. There’s no doubt about it. I think that’s one of
the problems we’ve had taking ahold of the diesel market so far. We are not a
Cadillac. We are not a Lexus. We’re not known as that high-end, very luxurious
coach. Now we want to get to that, to a point … but we don’t want to lose sight of
the fact that we are the Ford and Chevy because we are proud of that heritage.
There’s a reason why Winnebago has 90% name-brand recognition.
HERTZKE: We’ll never be in the three-quarter-million-dollar (motorhome) range.
Y
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RVB: What do you plan to do with your time?
HERTZKE: We have all sorts of travel plans. This year, I’m going fishing a couple
of different times, and we’ve got two different trips planned with the motorhome.
Next fall, I have four major hunting trips. I’m on the national board of Pheasants
Forever, which allows me access to a lot of different hunting opportunities. And while
I love Iowa and have a lot of friends here, I definitely am going to look for a (warmer)
place for January, February and March. We will keep our residence in Forest City.
RVB: Having said that, Bruce, you apparently feel like you’re leaving the
company in good hands?
HERTZKE: Without a doubt. The thing that I’m very proud of is (that)
Winnebago’s balance sheet is rock-solid. We have no long-term debt. This entire
complex, our complex in Charles City and in Hampton — everything’s totally paid for.
We have the company in a very good financial position. If you look over the last four
or five years, in most cases, we’ve been running in excess of $100 million (cash) on
hand. I can walk out the door and say I’m very pleased with what we have left behind
for the next management team.
I can also tell you that I wish it was in this good of shape when I first took over
“We’re not known as that high-end,
very luxurious coach. Now we want to
get to that, to a point … but we don’t
want to lose sight of the fact that we
are the ‘Ford and Chevy’ because we
are proud of that heritage. There’s a
reason why Winnebago has 90%
name-brand recognition.” – Bob Olson
We don’t think the Winnebago name probably fits on a million-dollar Prevost. But,
eventually, maybe we can develop a separate line of product, like when Ford went
to Jaguar. Maybe there is that opportunity.
RVB: Now, let’s talk about the current change in senior management at
Winnebago. Bruce, was this a spur-of-the-moment decision on your part or
something you had contemplated for some time?
HERTZKE: Winnebago Industries put into place a succession plan for our corporation in the early 2000s. So, we’ve been doing succession planning, not only for the
chairman and CEO, but the president, vice president and levels below them also. And
we’ve been talking about this move since the end of 2004-2005. Originally, I had
intentions of retiring at 55. I’m 56 now. I’ll be 57 in July.
RVB: So, you’re looking forward to retiring at this point?
HERTZKE: Yeah, very much so. I can honestly say the board didn’t ask me to
resign or anything. It was my wish. I’ve been at the company for 36 years. I truly
love the RV industry. I’ve had a lot of opportunities, being on the RVIA board and
working with RVDA. It’s been an extremely fun ride. I’ve done a lot of things, like
ringing the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange twice. I’ve had the opportunity to receive a lot of recognition on behalf of the company, not for me, but on
behalf of the company, because of its great performance. The last 10 years have
been the 10 record revenue years of the company and, more importantly, the
company’s 10 most profitable years. It was just great being part of that.
40
because we weren’t making money and our balance sheet was not anywhere near
as good. We were struggling back in the late ’80s and early ’90s as a company. The
organization and the executive team, we were all able to make the right decisions
for the company to do extremely well. Again, if you look at the last 10 years,
Winnebago’s returns, on equity, assets, operating profits, net income or operating
income, I’m very proud of those five matrixes as far as what we’ve been able to
produce for our employees, our shareholders and the company itself.
RVB: Your thoughts as you step into the saddle here at Winnebago, Bob,
especially given the current economic atmosphere?
OLSON: I agree with a lot of what Bruce has said about where we are financially right now. From my perspective, the transition here is going to be seamless, almost
invisible, with very few changes. We’ve got a very good management team. Even
with Bruce’s leaving, we are still going to have more than 21 years average seniority with our executive management team. We’ve got several people in that group who
have seen a lot of good times, they’ve seen a lot of bad things.
That’s one of the things, along with our employees, that makes us a very strong
player in our industry — we know how to manage through these types of down times.
You still can’t lose sight of the fact that this industry and this company are cyclical in nature. We need to know how to manage the good times as well as the bad.
We’ve got a good group that’s going to allow us to do that. At the same time, we
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041-RVB0805 PG 41 CUMMINS
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Page 41
C o n g r at u l at i o n s
Winnebago Industries
on your 50 years on the r oad.
We’re pr oud to be on board.
Cummins Onan
RV Generators
Performance you rely on.™
®
©2008 Cummins Power Generation. Cummins®, Onan® and the “C” logo are registered trademarks of Cummins, Inc.
ONAN CORPORATION, CIRCLE 110 ON READER SERVICE CARD
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WINNEBAGO IN
Photo By Shawn Spence
DOMINATING D E
At Winnebago’s huge production facility, three separate
assembly lines are kept busy — with each line capable
of routing 33 coaches.
42
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D EVELOPMENTS
WINNEBAGO'S PRODUCT LINE CONTINUES TO EVOLVE AS THE COMPANY EXPLORES STRATEGIES
FOR INCREASING ITS INDUSTRY-LEADING SHARE OF THE MOTORIZED MARKET. HEADING INTO
2009, THAT TRANSLATES INTO A BIG PUSH WITH NEW DIESEL-POWERED COACHES.
■ B Y
B O B
A S H L E Y
innebago Industries Inc.’s penchant for
innovation is among the primary reasons that the namesake Winnebago
motorhome has become almost synonymous
with the term “recreational vehicle.”
“Evolution relative to the chassis (is what)
gives you the opportunity for innovation,” said
Bill O’Leary, Winnebago vice president of product development.
Yes, chassis are the key.
And for the 2008 model year — and heading
into 2009 — Winnebago products continued to
evolve with more motorhomes built on the
W
high-mpg, imported Sprinter diesel chassis at
the smaller end of the spectrum. Another key
to future developments at Winnebago is the
year-old Maxum diesel-pusher chassis from
Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp., Gaffney,
S.C. — a platform for much larger motorhomes.
That the Sprinter and Maxum chassis are
diesel-powered platforms is significant also
because that’s where the industry as a whole
has been headed. Diesel motorhome shipments industrywide were 52% of the market
the last two years.
And even though Winnebago led the indus-
Winnebago Tour
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N
try with an 18.6%
combined Class A
and Class C market share in 2007,
diesel is where
Winnebago execYE
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utives say the
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company
has
room to improve.
“We are weak in diesel yet,” said Bruce
Hertzke, who retires May 5 as
Winnebago chairman and CEO. “We
need to do better in the diesel market.
That’s still an opportunity for us.”
Part of Winnebago’s contribution
to the small diesel trend is the
company’s best-selling Winnebago
View/Itasca Navion fuel-efficient
Class C motorhomes built on the
imported Mercedes Benz Sprinter
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Winnebago Access
Itasca Navion iQ
Itasca Sunstar
chassis built in Germany.
“That was the best single selling
(Winnebago) product line ... last year,”
Hertzke said.
For the 2008 model year, Winnebago expanded its use of the Sprinter
chassis by introducing
the Navion iQ minimotorhome,
specifically
for
Itasca dealers,
and for 2009
Winnebago
already
has
introduced the
Sprinter-based
Era Class B
motorhome which will be sold as a corporate brand rather than carrying the
Winnebago or Itasca nameplate when
it goes into production this spring.
In the Class A diesel-pusher category, in turn, Winnebago for the 2008
model year teamed up with
Freightliner to design the new
Winnebago Maxum chassis — a new
Freightliner XCL lowered-rail chassis
with a semi-monocoque superstructure added by Winnebago in its own
factory. The Maxum allows for GVWRs
of up to 32,500 pounds.
“We worked with Freightliner to
come up with what we call an inverted
rail to compete directly with the raised-
Congratulations, Winnebago,
on 50 successful years.
Get better sleep on the road.
Select Comfort is a proud
partner of Winnebago Industries.
Wo
fin
at
Sh
©2008 Select Comfort
44
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Page 45
COACH NET, CIRCLE 118 ON READER SERVICE CARD
railed manufacturers,” said President
Bob Olson. “We feel we’ve got a better mousetrap because we’ve got
about 160 cubic feet more of cargocarrying capacity than what a raisedrail does.”
Notably, Winnebago converted its
top two diesel motorhomes, the
Winnebago Tour/Itasca Ellipse
and Vectra/Horizon to the Maxum
chassis.
While the 2009s are about to be
unveiled, Winnebago for 2008
offered 25 lines with 93 floorplans —
nearly 49% of which were new or
redesigned, including the introduction
of the entry-level Winnebago
Access/Itasca Impulse Class C
motorhome and the Vista/Sunstar
entry-level gas model.
Here’s a look at the brand names
Winnebago marketed in 2008:
Winnebago Class C: View in
diesel; Access, Outlook and Aspect in
gas.
Winnebago Class A: Journey,
Tour, Vectra in diesel; Destination in
diesel and gas; Vista, Sightseer,
Voyager and Adventurer in gas.
Itasca Class C: Navion/Navion iQ
in diesel; Impulse, Spirit and Cambria
in gas.
Itasca Class A: Meridian, Ellipse,
Horizon in diesel; Latitude in gas and
diesel; Sunstar, Sunova, Sunrise and
Suncruiser in gas. 6
Workers perform
final inspections
at Winnebago’s
Shipout facility.
Photo By Shawn Spence
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have the Baby Boomers
coming at us. You’re not
going to take this type of lifestyle away from the
American public. You are not going to take their weekends, their tailgating and their sense of adventure away
from them.
And we’ve still got a very strong customer base that
will be back. It’s just one of those times right now with
consumer confidence — I hate to say this — at an alltime low. You’ve got a war and a political election
going on. You've got a housing debacle that hasn’t
been seen in a long, long time. In spite of that, we’re
still alive and well.
Are we making as much money and selling as much
product as we did in 2004, one of the best years this
money because we’ve got all these companies (draining us).’ So, we started to clean them up. If you look
at the performance from 1998 to 2008, those were the
10 record years for our company. And this was after
we closed down five other businesses to focus strictly
on RVs.
RVB: You also kept your focus on motorized.
HERTZKE: Yeah. We were asked several times to
get into towables. You never say never, but we had to
go where our best opportunities were to make money
and grow. If you look from 1996, we were a $436 million corporation. And in 2004, we had the opportunity
to ride that up to $1.1 billion. It was double-digit
growth through that whole period of time. Could we
have gone into trailers, too? Probably. But we felt then,
as now, that there are still some good opportunities
with motorhomes. We just came out with the Era, a
“The last 10 years
have been the 10
record revenue
years of the company and, more
importantly, the
company’s 10
most profitable
years. It was just
great being part
of that.”
– Bruce Hertzke
AMTECH CORPORATION, CIRCLE 134 ON READER SERVICE CARD
industry has seen? Absolutely not. But it’s still not bad.
RVB: Bruce, you mentioned good decisions
that have been made in the past that you feel
have put Winnebago on a sound financial footing
today. Would you elaborate on that statement?
HERTZKE: The executive team and I got together in
1997, my first year as an officer, and analyzed the
entire corporation and we found out we had a lot of little businesses that were just not contributing. In fact
they were losing money for the company. That included Cycle-Sat, a European company, a shopping mall in
Temple, Texas, a vending-machine company selling
candy bars and pop, and a commercial-vehicle division.
We went through and said ‘even if we do good in
RVs, we can’t show the public we can make some
46
Class B motorhome. That is a market we haven’t been
in for a few years. That will be a market that, during
the next couple of years, Winnebago expands into.
RVB: Any other keys to stability in an industry
that, frankly, has seen a lot of manufacturers
come and go?
OLSON: One of the things that made a huge difference in this company during the last 10 years — and we
will continue it — is that we have a very high-level
strategy meeting every day. Myself, all of our VPs, our
director of quality, director of purchasing, meet every
day. We look at all the key indicators, whether they be
internal or external, to try to determine what we need
to do from a decision-making standpoint regarding
production scheduling, dealer inventories (and) our
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inventories and what retail, wholesale, gas prices and
interest rates are doing — looking at all that stuff so
that we make sure that we stay focused on the core
business and where we want to take this company. So,
I think that’s probably one of the other big things that's
helped us manage through the upturns and the downturns in this industry.
RVB: Speaking of downturns, the latest one
has prompted Winnebago to lay off some people.
Given the homegrown culture of your company,
that probably wasn’t an easy thing to do, was it?
HERTZKE: Definitely not. You have to realize these
are the people who gave us 10 record years and have
given the opportunity for both myself and Bob to
receive a lot of accolades, not for ourselves, but for the
corporation. It has never bothered me to fire someone
who does not deserve a job; it always hurts a lot more
to lay someone off just because the economy is not
good enough and does not allow me to keep them. That
hurts a lot more than anything, especially — and this is
getting back to a small community atmosphere — when
it’s my neighbor, the guys that I play golf with or meet
in the grocery store who haven’t done anything wrong.
And I know that I want him back. We want to get back
to when we had those great record years.
OLSON: One of the things I’m most proud of with
the management team we’ve got right now is that,
during the course of the last 12 years, we’ve had only
two small layoffs. The first one, in 2005, was about 170
Page 47
people, and this last one was around 200 to 225.
HERTZKE: The first one, we had everyone back
within 90 days.
OLSON: We’ve all taken pride in that. That wasn’t
always the case in the years prior to that. This industry — and Winnebago was part of it — had a reputation
of pretty massive layoffs from time to tome. What we
tried to do as a management team is stabilize that.
Yeah, we’ve had to make some decisions along the way
that weren’t popular, but we eliminated the big swing.
We avoided the situation where you were laying hundreds of people off at a time. One of our charters, along
with profitability and quality, was to be the employer of
choice. Part of that is stability in your work environment. Both Bruce and I take great pride in that and
have been very successful in that.
RVB: Aside from comments on Class B growth,
what does the future hold for Winnebago in
terms of product?
OLSON: As far as where we go in the future, I
guess I’ll add to Bruce’s comments on trailers. We continue to get asked that question (about entering the
towable RV market) by a lot of people. Right now, we
have to look at what we think we can make money
with for this corporation. Travel trailers are a very cutthroat part of this industry — low margins — and if we
are going to get into something, we not only want to
enhance the top line but we want to enhance the bottom line. To get into towables, I don’t think you can do
it from our campus, although we would have the
capacity to do it. But shipping costs would kill us.
To expand on where the future is going — and there
are some things I can’t disclose — we can’t lose sight
of mounting gas prices. I think fuel economy may
become (a) bigger (factor). We’ve proven that a little
bit with the (smaller, Sprinter-based) View and the
Navion (Class C’s). We’ve got a product out there that
we basically had the luxury of having the (exclusive)
market for a couple of years. Now it’s being followed.
RVB: You kind of aced out some of your
competitors on that German-made, turbodieselpowered Sprinter chassis with an exclusive
supply agreement at first, did you not?
OLSON: I wish I could say that was the strategy all
along — that we knew this was going to be one of the
hottest products around for a couple of years. But
when you get right down to it, that’s part of it. But the
other part of it sometimes is luck. We really went after
something to replace our (VW-based) Rialta product
line. We had a very good product in our Volkswagen
lineup, and they quit offering that chassis to North
America in 2003. Yeah, that was 10% of our business
that all of a sudden in one year was gone. We had to
come up with something to replace it. We got ahold of
the Dodge Sprinter through Daimler-Chrysler and were
able to create what we’ve got today. It was the right
product at the right time. People just fell in love with it.
RVB: Do you think there’s room for more
Thank you, Winnebago, for helping people reach the corners
of this beautiful land in style for 50 great years.
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AGO INDUS
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THETFORD CORPORATION, CIRCLE 103 ON READER SERVICE CARD
CDI, CIRCLE 132 ON READER SERVICE CARD
Proudly
Providing
Custom Paint
& Design
RO
Y
Congratulations on 50 Years serving the
RV industry. We are pleased and honored
to be part of an American legend.
AD
FIFT
Winnebago
growth in Sprinter-based
products?
OLSON: Absolutely. If you
look at what we’ve done with it so far, this year we’ve
come out with a B-van on the Dodge Sprinter van
chassis and the (Navion) iQ. I’ve got to give credit to
Daimler-Chrysler. They are a very loyal partner. We
were one of the first ones to get in. They could have
easily said, ‘We see a market here. We’re going to start
giving this chassis to other manufacturers as well.’ But
they met our demands first. And as long as we had the
demand (volume) there, we got the product and
nobody else did. That's a little uncommon in today’s
marketplace. They were very loyal to us.
HERTZKE: Also behind that commitment was the
fact that we have a test track, a simulator and can
show them structural tests
OLSON: Yeah, you have to go through a certification with them. And then you have to show and prove
that you’ve got process control. That’s another one of
the reasons that it took some of the competition a little bit longer to get into this business. We think there’s
a diesel market, and there’s probably a market for a
smaller type vehicle as well, based on the DaimlerChrysler Sprinter chassis. There will be more of that as
we go along. I can’t tell you what.
RVB: So, again, whatever specific product
plans exist, high gas prices obviously play a
central role in at least part of them.
OLSON: Absolutely. I think you are going to start
seeing a little bit more downsizing in order to gain
some fuel economy. I think, eventually — this could be
a few years down the road — you’re going to start seeing some alternative power trains. That could be
hybrids, hydrogen, bio-diesel, ethanol-based. We are
going to eventually tag along with what the automobile
industry is doing and there will be alternatives to it.
Where that takes us as an industry, I’m not sure yet.
As for downsizing, look at the European marketplace.
They’ve had steady growth for the last 10 years. In
fact, they are double what the American RV industry is
from a motorized standpoint today. And they are doing
it in spite of $5 to $7 (per gallon) gas.
In addition, I think we’ll see downsizing of the drive
trains and GVWs of the chassis, which forces the manufacturers to make a smaller vehicle. And we could see
a move to alternative fuels, potentially, and bold moves
in aerodynamics. I think Georgia Tech has a whole
department that is looking at 18-wheel (over-the-road
truck) aerodynamics to improve fuel efficiency. Is
there something there that we can extract for RVs?
HERTZKE: You are going to see fewer full-size
pickups and SUVs. That’s already occurring. On the
other hand, will conventional motorhomes all go away?
Absolutely not. Our big diesel products aren’t going to
go away. But there is some migration to new products
that are smaller and more efficient that are going to
come into the market.
YE
ARS
Here’s to 50 More!
48
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Page 49
Happy 50th Anniversary
Winnebago Industries
Winnebago Founder John K. Hanson
To the Management, Directors, Employees and Other
Stakeholders of Industry Leader Winnebago Industries Inc.
from RV Business and Affinity Media
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050-RVB_0805_LO_The Rally
4/18/08
8:28 PM
Page 50
The Georgia National Fairgrounds provided a comfortable, country setting for The Rally. Here, attendees explore new offerings from Beaver Motorcoaches.
AGI’s ‘The Rally’ Draws
Nearly 3,500 Rigs, 9,200
RVers to Georgia for
Four - Day Show/Expo
Positive Economic Indicators Create a LastMinute Attendance Boost for Country’s
Largest Single RV Event; OEMs,
Dealers Report Strong Sales
■ BY BOB ASHLEY
■ P H O T O S B Y W. S C O T T M I T C H E L L
50
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Page 51
Nearly 500 suppliers exhibited products ranging from hitch receivers to
cooking equipment. The Rally also offered participants the opportunity to
attend upwards of 100 free seminars and tour more than 700 new RVs.
More importantly, she said, reports from manufacturers and dealers who brought 737 display
coaches — and many of the 478 suppliers who set
up booths — were that sales were better than
expected.
“It was a shot in the arm for the industry,” said
Terry Thompson, Affinity vice president of sales.
“Given the market, we were pretty happy with the
attendance. And the best thing was the people
were buying. Dealers like Lazy Days (Seffner,
Fla.) told me they had a great show, and
Fleetwood was exceedingly happy, particularly
with their American Coach … same thing with
Gulf Stream.”
The Georgia weather cooperated, for a change.
Inclement weather at the popular Georgia venue
has almost become a tradition — and it looked for
a time as if that tradition would persist when tornadoes struck downtown Atlanta about 100 miles
north on The Rally’s opening night, causing
major damage to the CNN Center and the
Georgia Dome where an NCAA basketball tournament game was being played. “We had some
wind and rain and we were on tornado watch, but
we were just fine,” Bray said.
The extended weekend featured more than 100
seminars on topics that ranged from pet care to
campground safety and RV insurance. Nightly
entertainment was provided by bluegrass musician Ricky Skaggs and singer Bobby Vinton, who
was a last-minute addition after former Four
Seasons singer Frankie Valli canceled.
mid strong economic headwinds more than
9,000 people and nearly 3,500 RVs attended
Affinity Group Inc.’s (AGI) ninth edition of
The Rally March 14-17 at the renovated Georgia
National Fairgrounds and Agricenter in Perry, Ga.
“It is a fabulous facility and it went very, very
smoothly,” reported Sue Bray, executive director of Affinity’s Good Sam Club. “They put about
$1 million into renovations, and parking went
very well. People were in good moods and excited about being there.”
The owners of 3,439 towable and motorized RVs
registered at The Rally and,
with walk-ins, about 9,200
The expansive Georgia National Fairgrounds
people attended the accomhosted more than 3,400 towable and motorpanying RV show and expo,
ized RVs during The Rally’s four-day run.
which by most accounts
exceeded expectations — particularly with the economic
climate in mid-March.
That, however, is about
1,300 fewer coaches than
when The Rally — formerly
known as the Great North
American RV Rally — last visited Perry in 2001.
Bray said that the event
received about 500 reservations in the final month leading up to the four-day show.
“That isn’t what usually happens,” she said. “They were
just waiting. Peoples’ attitudes
seemed to be that they are
going to continue to RV, but
that they are going to be more
careful about their trips and
do more planning.”
A
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Page 52
PROGRESS MANUFACTURING, CIRCLE 114 ON READER SERVICE CARD
And the Good Sam Club organized a dance that broke a
Guinness record for the most people dancing at the same time.
Some 1,128 couples danced the
foxtrot to “Fly Me to the Moon” by
the Michael Andrews Big Band
during “Prom Night in Perry.”
AGI President and CEO Mike
Schneider said The Rally has
matured in the nine years AGI has
staged the event. “It brings together all the right factions of the
industry — a very large collection
of consumers coupled with a very
large selection of manufacturers
and dealers,” he told RVBusiness.
On the public relations front,
Schneider said the entire RV
industry came off well in a balanced feature story about the
event in USA Today's weekend
travel section. “It portrayed the
industry in a very realistic and
positive manner,” Schneider said.
The USA Today piece, which
ran the Friday after The Rally concluded, quoted Schneider, Bob
Livingston, Affinity senior vice
president of publishing, and a
number of RVers who turned out
to be strong RVing advocates.
Reported USA Today: “Hard core
RVers ... will tell you an RV isn’t
A Guiness world record was set at The Rally for “most
people dancing” as 1,128 couples took to the floor.
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053-RVB0805 PG 53 XANTREX
4/15/08
1:55 PM
Page 53
WE PUT THE POWER IN
YOUR TRAILER.
With a high performance inverter from Xantrex™ in your
trailer, you will never be without the conveniences of home.
The 1000 watt model can power a complete AV system and convenience receptacle
while the 1800 watt model will power a microwave and AV system. Xantrex PRO
Series Inverters will meet the power needs of any travel trailer, fifth-wheel, or sport
utility trailer. Their unique design means they install easily into virtually any space,
and the digital remote panel offers at-a-glance status information such as battery
voltage and output power. All this without the noise or cost of running a generator,
at a price that will surprise you.
The PRO Series Inverters are the lowest cost inverters that offer a built-in transfer
switch and that meet UL 458 safety and FCC emission standards required by RVIA.
XANTREX PRO SERIES HIGHLIGHTS:
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Meets UL 458 safety standards and FCC emission standards
An internal relay transfers power for an entire 30A circuit
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See for yourself what makes Xantrex the leading inverter supplier to the RV
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Xantrex
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SM Osgood Company
574.294.5858
[email protected]
951.672.6777
[email protected]
952.937.2045
www.smosgood.com
© 2008 Xantrex Technology Inc. All rights reserved.
Xantrex and smart choice for power are trademarks of
Xantrex International, registered in the U.S. and other
countries.
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Page 54
just a vehicle. It’s a lifestyle. And a
little thing like $4-a-gallon gas
isn’t going to put the brakes on a
way of life.”
The 2009 edition of The Rally is
scheduled for April 17-20 in
Albuquerque, N.M., at Expo New
Mexico, home of the New Mexico
State Fair, as well as the nearby
Balloon Fiesta Park. The Kentucky
Exposition Center in Louisville,
Ky., is the venue for 2010.
“We’d like to have a rotation of
Redmond (Ore.), Perry, and
Louisville, and move Albuquerque into the mix,” Bray said. 6
ABOVE: ’60s pop idol Bobby Vinton proved
a popular replacement for Frankie Valli.
RIGHT: On another night, bluegrass musician Ricky Skaggs entertained rallygoers
with his roster of hits.
Dometic Corporation is continually committed to maintaining a
high level of satisfaction and excellence now and in the future.
That is why Dometic is voluntarily recalling certain refrigerators
that may have a potential safety defect. The recall affects
Dometic two-door refrigerators manufactured between April
1997 and May 2003.
America’s Best
Campground
Voted Good
Sam’s Favorite
Branson Park, Others Honored
at Affinity’s Rally in Perry, Ga.
A
fter driving through busy Branson,
Missouri, it was refreshing to motor
up and out into the countryside — not far,
but just far enough. The campground sign
was easy to spot, and I parked close to
the office. Two staff members greeted
me, took just a minute to check me in,
gave me a detailed map of the campground and of nearby Branson, then
offered to show me to my campsite.
The staff also made some suggestions
about shows I might like and offered to
get me tickets — saving me time and
stress. I looked around the lodge and
decided I’d have to come back to do some
shopping at their gift shop. Two different
CDs sung and produced by campground
co-owner Sue Alkire mirrored how important entertainment is for the region.
continued to page 61
The well-being of Dometic customers is of highest concern.
A serious problem resulting in a fire may occur in an
exceptionally small fraction of Dometic two-door refrigerators,
but to address that potential risk, please contact us immediately for more information.
1-888-446-5157
www.DometicUSA.com
RECALL O6E-076
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055-RVB_0805_LO_SupShow_Pu
4/17/08
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Page 55
BY MIKE KEECH
S U P P L I E R
■
PHOTOS BY MARK SHEPHARD
S H O W C A S E
The Long and Short
of Hitch Design
Andrew Pulliam, founder and
designer of the PullRite fifthwheel hitch, is flanked by his son,
Randy, PullRite president, and his
daughter, Lynda Hampton, the
company’s vice president.
PullRite has helped to set
the standard for fifth-wheel
hitches, from units for longbed pickups to fully automatic systems that allow
even the new wave of ultrashort bed trucks extreme
maneuverability.
P
ulliam Enterprises may be something of an anomaly among
United States-based equipment
manufacturers. While it seems as if the
daily newspapers are filled with stories
of an ever-escalating number of
American businesses filling orders with
overseas products of sometimes questionable origin, Pulliam — best known
for its PullRite line of hitches —
proudly claims the label “Made in
America” for all its products.
Founded by Andrew and Leota
Pulliam in 1978, the Mishawaka, Ind.,
manufacturer has been a major factor
in hitch design. PullRite’s contributions to the hitch-manufacturing sector gained steam with the introduction
of the innovative dual-articulating,
double-pivot fifth-wheel hitch in
1990. This type of hitch was the first of
its kind, and helped to set the standard
for today’s fifth-wheel hitch configurations. That same year, the company
introduced its first custom-designed,
vehicle-specific SuperBrackets to make
fifth-wheel hitch installations easier
and quicker.
In 1993, PullRite purchased its first
laser-cutting machine, allowing the
company to expand. With this key
piece of machinery in place, PullRite
opened its Laserite Fabrication divi- it’s automatic, no one has to stop, get
sion, which specializes in laser cutting out of the truck and reposition the
and custom fabrication. Laserite hitch.
In 2002, PullRite created the 12K
Fabrication shapes, welds and cuts
steel, stainless steel, plastics, wood and SuperGlide fifth-wheel hitch to
aluminum. The subsidiary services accommodate the newer breed of pickcompanies located throughout south- ups with even shorter beds like Ford’s
SuperCrew, Toyota’s Tundra, the
ern Michigan and northern Indiana.
That acquisition was followed in Nissan Titan, and Chevy trucks with a
short order by the development of five-foot, eight-inch bed. Currently,
PullRite’s first “totally removable” base PullRite is the only manufacturer
rail design for fifth-wheel hitch instal- building hitches for these truck models.
In the last 12 months, PullRite has
lations. This innovation allows RVers
to have a smooth, clean truck bed added 14,000-pound and 18,000when the fifthwheel hitch is
not
needed.
During the same
year, PullRite
also patented its
SuperGlide, an
automatic sliding
hitch for short
bed trucks. The
company touts
SuperGlide as
the only autoPullRite technician Roger Joly welds trailer
matically sliding
plate adapters at the company’s Mishawaka
hitch that has
manufacturing facility.
been proven to
safely solve the
problems specifically related to
towing
with
short-bed trucks.
It also solves the
space issue for
short-bed truck
owners and protects the truck,
trailer, and passengers
when
making
short
turns. And, since
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Wayne Hartman and other PullRite engineers utilize
Autocad software to design new hitches and hardware.
Page 56
pound SuperGlide models to its line of
automatically sliding hitches. The
model 14K SuperGlide is designed to
meet the needs of those who haul
lighter trailers, while model 18K
SuperGlide is made for heavy-duty customers and is suited for today's growing
fifth-wheel trailer and large toy-hauler
group.
Of course, PullRite also manufactures
and distributes its Super fifth-wheel
hitch line for standard (long bed)
trucks. Customers can choose from
three different types of mounting
brackets for the installation of this
series, from an economical Universal
mount to the SuperRail kit which features custom designed mounting brackets that are “totally removable” to provide consumers the option of having a
smooth, clean truck bed to use when
they are not towing.
Along with the Super fifth-wheel and
the SuperGlide, PullRite makes a “sway
free” travel trailer hitch series which
enhance maneuverability and allow up
to 90-degree turns. According to company representatives, the “sway free”
hitch is essentially an “upside-down”
fifth-wheel hitch; its pivot point is
directly under the truck axle.
Since the founders’ retirement a few
years back, their son, Randy, has served
as president of the privately held entity,
while daughter Lynda Hampton has
performed the duties of vice-president.
They currently superintend two facilities: the 40,000-square-foot main production and office facility is located in
Mishawaka, while a 25,000-square-foot
assembly and shipping facility is located
nearby in Elkhart.
“We believe RVers would rather have
higher quality, reliable, ‘Made in
America’ products,” said Steve Koehn,
vice president of sales and marketing.
“PullRite’s focus continues to be making products better — providing higher quality products, that will provide
better value to our customers over the
long run.”
Koehn continued, “We’ve also
worked hard to make sure that PullRite
dealers have the opportunity to make
great profits on the hitches they sell. If
the dealer takes the time to help educate the consumer, they are earning the
B & W TRAILER HITCHES, CIRCLE 127 ON READER SERVICE CARD
V I T A L
S T A T I S T I C S
COMPANY: PullRite — Pulliam Enterprises, Inc.
(www.pullrite.com)
LOCATION: Mishawaka, Ind.
FOUNDED: 1978
PRIMARY PRODUCTS: Trailer hitches and
custom fabrication
KEY PERSONNEL: Randy Pulliam, president;
Ray Winey, controller; Lynda Hampton, executive
vice president; Steve Koehn, vice president of
sales/marketing; Paul Marnocha, national sales
manager
FACILITIES: 65,000 square feet
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057-RVB0805 PG 57 AFFINITY
4/15/08
1:56 PM
Page 57
Where
can you find pre-qualified advertisers?
In their homes, reading Affinity publications!
Only Affinity gives you so many ways to reach RV owners and prospective RV buyers
right where they live. These are active, on-the-go people who are hard to reach any
other way. But no matter where they alight, you’ll find them poring over our
magazines and buyer’s guides, seeking out information to enhance their RV
experiences and guide their purchase decisions. So put your ads in front of readers
who demonstrate both interest and intent to buy, through a paid subscription or a
newsstand purchase. Where? In Affinity’s publications!
Affinity
2575 Vista Del Mar Dr., Ventura, CA 93001, Tele: (805) 667-4100, Fax: (805) 667-4379,
E-mail: [email protected]
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Page 58
“We believe RVers would rather have higher quality,
reliable, ‘Made in America’ products,” — Steve Koehn, vice president of sales and marketing.
stated PullRite was “the best of the
best” as he presented the award.
PullRite received similar recognition
several years ago from StagParkway —
the “Peach Award” — for demonstrating a recognized
higher level of
excellence as a
vendor partner.
“It means a lot
to be recognized in this way
by our distributor partners,”
Koehn noted. “It’s an
indication of the
success that
PullRite has been able to accomplish.
We work hard to ensure all the pieces,
from accounting to welding, come
together to achieve the highest quality
trailer towing products.” 6
PullRite SuperGlide fifth-wheel
hitch, designed for short-bed
pickups.
CAREFREE OF COLORADO, CIRCLE 126 ON READER SERVICE CARD
right to a fair profit themselves. In fact,
our big marketing push in 2008 is the
PullRite Rewards Program. It is set up
to compensate sales staff up to $75 for
helping educate the consumer.”
“Another aspect of PullRite’s focus
has been to make products easier and
quicker to install,” said Koehn. “In
addition to the custom-designed
mounting brackets that utilize existing
holes in the specific truck frames,
PullRite also provides steel, laser-cut,
re-usable mounting templates to all
their dealers with displays. This significantly reduces installation layout times.
It also ensures a high level of quality
work.”
That high level of commitment has
paid off. Recently, PullRite received the
2007 Vendor Partner of the Year award
at the NTP Distribution Dealer
Conference in Austin, Tex. Of the six
vendors recognized by NTP for their
level of excellence, David Robinson,
director of vendor relations for NTP,
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■
P U B L I C
B Y
B O B
A S H L E Y
D O M A I N
‘Undocumented Worker’
Legislation Runs Into a
‘Brick Wall’ in Indiana;
17 States Sue the Fed
Over Greenhouse Gases
or all the noise created around it for six
weeks, legislation that would have punished
Indiana businesses hiring undocumented
workers died quietly when the Indiana General
Assembly adjourned for 2008.
During a legislature dominated by talk of property tax relief for homeowners and businesses,
the illegal immigration bill garnered nearly as
much attention after passing the Republicancontrolled Senate in late January.
The proposed Indiana law would have revoked
the business license of any company that was
found to knowingly have hired illegal aliens three
times in 10 years. A less onerous plan was
approved in the Democrat-controlled House.
The legislation, spearheaded by Sen. Mike
Delph, R-Carmel, died when conferees couldn’t
reach a compromise on different Senate- and
House-passed versions of the plan. Republican
Gov. Mitch Daniels, a former White House budget director under George W. Bush, didn’t weigh in
on the subject during the session, choosing
instead to stay neutral.
“We just ran into a brick wall,” said Delph,
according to the Indianapolis Star. “I failed ... but
it was certainly not for lack of effort.”
Opponents of the bill staged rallies and lobbied
vigorously in the halls of the Indiana Statehouse,
suggesting that the proposed law would force
many Hispanics — legal and illegal — to move out
of Indiana, as has happened in Arizona since an
aggressive immigration law went into effect there
January 1.
Behind the scenes, organizations representing
Hoosier businesses quietly lobbied to defeat the
bill. Undaunted, Delph said he plans to introduce
the legislation again next year.
F
✺
✺
Patent Pending
✺
A tug-of-war continues nationally over “greenhouse gases” — and it’s yet another factor that
could significantly affect the RV sector.
Seventeen states and the mayor and city council of Baltimore have gone back to federal court
in Massachusetts to force the EPA to comply with
a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the agency is
required to issue regulations on carbon dioxide
and other so-called “greenhouse gases” produced
by motor vehicles.
The lawsuit has the auto and RV industries
worried that new regulations will have the backdoor effect of increasing fuel-mileage requirements for cars and light trucks beyond the
35 mpg established last year by Congress that is
to go into full effect in 2020.
To date, the only tailpipe emissions EPA has
regulated concern particulate matter.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB)
already has established greenhouse emissions
levels that would require carbon dioxide levels to
be reduced by 20% for the 2009 model year and
30% by 2016, but needs an EPA waiver before
they can enforce them.
“To get the ‘carbon footprint’ that CARB is
looking for, you’d have to get 43 miles per gallon
from your car,” said Jay Landers, senior director
of government affairs for the Recreation Vehicle
Industry Association (RVIA). “And to get there,
automakers also are going to have to reduce the
weight of pickup trucks, which is going to affect
their GVWR.”
The Massachusetts court filing seeks to force
EPA to issue a decision on carbon dioxide by
early June.
Since 1988 more than 2 million
RV owners have purchased our
original Vent Cover, making it
America’s fresh air choice for
RV ventilation.
*Warranty limited to repair or replacement, see our website for details.
See our entire line at
www.maxxair.com
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059-RVB_0805_LO_Pub_Domain
059-RVB_0805_LO_Pub_Domain
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Page 60
ONTHANK COMPANY, CIRCLE 138 ON READER SERVICE CARD
✺
50
e
c
n
e
l
l
e
c
x
E
Years of
Winnebago, Congratulations on 50 Years of Outstanding
proud to share in your success. Thank you!
✺
✺
✺
✺
The American Recreation Coalition in June will
launch National Get Outdoors Day with participation from dozens of federal agencies and nonprofit organizations. The idea is that on June 14
organizing participants will “offer sites for
American families to experience traditional and
non-traditional types of outdoor activities,”
according to ARC.
Performance, Innovation and Leadership in the RV
Industry. We at Onthank, DuPont and NAFCO have been
✺
Canada intends to create a 1.9 million-acre
national park centered around the south Nahanni
River in the Northwest Territories. The
Naat’sihch’oh National Park Reserve will cover the
river’s watershed adjacent to the larger Nahanni
National Park Reserve, which the government
also plans to expand, according to Environment
Minister John Baird.
✺
✺
✺
On the heels of a tough spring sales season,
the 2008 Discover Boating advertising campaign
will conclude the first week of June after a 15week run. The campaign, patterned after the RV
industry’s Go RVing market expansion program,
concentrated this year on advertising in 14 magazines and 8,000 TV spots on CNN, CMT, FOX
News, MSNBC and other outlets, along with cell
phone and special TiVo advertising.
✺
✺
✺
RVIA has created a website for the RV-C multiplexing protocol that allows the various electrical components of an RV to be controlled by one
system. The website can be accessed at rvia.org
and provides copies of the draft RV-C specs, a
blog for suppliers offering RV-C components,
resources that include “A Vendor’s Guide to RVC” and “Designing an RV with RV-C” as well as
an RV-C technical forum.
✺
✺
✺
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed
closing as many as 50 California state parks to
save $1.6 million as part of an effort to cut a $14
billion budget shortfall. The former “Terminator”
told The Sacramento Bee that he doesn’t really
want the parks closed, but intended to challenge
lawmakers to find ways to keep them open, such
as increasing fees or using volunteers. 6
RV Business Senior
Editor Bob Ashley
is an Indianapolisbased freelance writer/
editor and a 25-year
newspaper veteran. He
focuses on the RV
industry and national
recreation issues.
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America’s Best
4/17/08
7:21 PM
from page 54
My spot was easy to find. The campground’s many tall trees provided shade to
the spacious campsites, and I began
to understand why America’s Best
Campground-Branson has been chosen
by Good Sam members as their favorite
campground for the past five years. The
club’s Welcome Mat Awards recognize
places that know how to accommodate
and offer good services to RVers.
When asked how her campground
earned an impressive fifth win, Alkire is at
a loss. “I’m not sure I can tell you why people keep voting for us,” she said. “What I
can tell you is that we really, really concentrate on customer service. The girls behind
the front desk are our front line. Their goal
is to make people laugh or at least smile
before they leave the lodge.”
Customer service is also shown when
the trash mysteriously disappears from
every campsite every day — all 160 sites.
Free Wi-Fi throughout the park keeps
RVers in touch with family and friends. In
addition to the clean bathrooms, the tidy
air-conditioned laundry room with 10
washers and dryers is a big hit.
Beyond the standard 30- and 50-amp
electric hookups, ABC has one 100-amp
site. So far, no one’s asked for that service,
although Alkire was promised it was the
wave of the future when they installed the
higher amperage.
The campground hasn’t become a legend on its own; it’s taken a lot of hard work.
Ten years ago, Jim and Sue Alkire bought
the park and, although it was well-maintained, they dreamed of bigger and better.
Jim came from Colorado farm stock, and
Sue worked in divorce mediation. “That
means my husband can fix anything, and
I can talk people through just about
anything,” she says.
Their work ethic shines when they
schedule and host 30 to 40 rallies a year.
“I’m usually serving the coffee,” said Sue,
“and Jim helps cater the meals.”
And then there's the entertainment. It’s a
no-brainer that the park, located a mile or
so from downtown Branson, hosts some
great local entertainers. The Missouri city
was rated 20th among all overnight
leisure-vacation destinations in the country. Fifty-two theaters, with more than
58,000 seats, provide some of the best
entertainment in the world. Country, pop,
swing, rock ’n roll, gospel, classical and
Broadway-style productions join comedy
and magic shows to provide visitors a wide
array of choices.
American’s Best Campground wasn’t
the only repeat Welcome Mat winner.
Cracker Barrel, a casual family restaurant
located throughout the U.S., has won the
“Sit Down Restaurant” category since the
award’s inception six years ago. Other
2008 award recipients, voted on by Good
Sam’s one-million-plus members in
January and February and awarded during
Page 61
The Rally, March 14-17, included:
■ Fuel/gas station: Flying J (also won
best propane outlet)
■ Outlet mall: Tanger’s
■ Casino: Sam’s Town
■ Dinghy Vehicle: Jeep
■ Tourist Attractions/Amusement
Parks/Museums: Disney World
■ Golf Course: Pebble Beach, Carmel, CA
■ NASCAR Event: Daytona 500
■ RV Show: Hershey, Penn.
■ RV Accessory Store: Camping World
■ Tow Vehicle: Ford
“Our Welcome Mat Award winners continually go out of their way to accommodate RVers and their RVs as they explore
the great American outdoors,” said Sue
Bray, vice president and executive director
of the Good Sam Club. “We congratulate
them, but most of all, thank them for the
extra miles they go to make us feel so
welcome.” - Dee Reed 6
AGI President and CEO, Mike Schneider (left) and
Sue Bray, executive Director of the Good Sam Club
(right) with Sue and Jim Alkire.
ROADMASTER, INC., CIRCLE 107 ON READER SERVICE CARD
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Contents
062-RVB_0805_LO_Ad Index
4/18/08
2:05 PM
A D V E R T I S E R S ’
Page 62
I N D E X
RS# Advertiser
134
106
136
127
129
128
132
125
124
123
122
121
120
126
119
118
130
135
117
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION on products and
services advertised in this issue, circle the number on
the attached Reader Service card corresponding to the
number of the company that interests you, and mail.
Pg.#
Amtech Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Aon Recreation Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Aqua-Hot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
B & W Trailer Hitches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56
Bank of America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Bank of the West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
CDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Camco, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
Camco, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Camco, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Camco, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Camco, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Camco, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70
Carefree of Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68-69
Coach Glass Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Coach Net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Colibert Enterprises Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
Digital Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
Dometic Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
Dometic Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
Ford Motor Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36-37
Freightliner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
RS# Advertiser
131
116
115
133
112
113
111
110
138
109
137
114
108
107
104
103
143
158
102
101
Pg.#
GE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Generac Power Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
KeyCorp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Linak US Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
MBA Insurance, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Maxx Air Vent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
McClains RVs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Monaco Coach Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Onan Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Onthank Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Parallax Power Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Pennsylvania RV and Camping Association . . . .62
Progress Manufacturing, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
River Park Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Roadmaster, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Select Comfort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Shurflo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Thetford Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
TrailManor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
Transfer Flow Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Workhorse Custom Chassis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Xantrex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
PENNSYLVANIA RV & CAMPING, CIRCLE 137 ON READER SERVICE CARD
While every effort is made to maintain accuracy and completeness, last-minute changes may occasionally result in omissions or errrors.
62
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AGO INDUS
IES
WIN
EB
4/18/08
TR
N
ARS
H
ON T
E
We have talked about
both sides of that market
today. We definitely think we have more opportunity in
diesel and also on the bottom end. And we’ll never give
up the core business in the middle. Our product lines
are just expanding farther.
RVB: You’ve indicated that you see diesel generally playing a bigger role down the road?
OLSON: Yes, you can’t lose sight of the fact that
diesel is gaining popularity. It’s been popular in Europe
for years. And now we’re starting to get the technology from an emissions standpoint, a stink/smell standpoint, that it’s no longer an issue. Looking back, it
wasn’t that long ago that diesel was not a big player
in the Class A category of our industry. You were only
talking about 25% to 30%, 10 years ago — today, it’s
52%. By the same token, there’s no comparison
between a diesel and gas product in terms of amenities and the fact that you’ve got a less troublesome
vehicle (with diesel) because of maintenance. You can
drive it forever. You can’t do that with gas. That is the
thing that is hot right now in this industry that the
American public wants.
RVB: This whole conversation, of course,
comes on the brink of your 2008 Dealer Days,
May 12-13 in Las Vegas.
OLSON: We are excited about that. We’ve been listening to our dealers pretty intensely about what we
can do with product, and I think we’ve taken some of
their advice and put it into our product for ’09. So,
there will be some things there that they are going to
enjoy seeing and, hopefully, will excite them for the
selling season ahead.
I should add that I’ve spent a lot of time with Roger
Martin and his staff out on the road. We’ve been to several dealerships during the course of the last nine to 10
months and I’ve had the opportunity to meet with some
of our dealers first hand. When things are tough, it’s
even more important that we do whatever we can to
listen to them, to put their ideas, their thoughts, into
what our products need to be. We’ve done some of that
through the years. We need to get better at it.
RVB: More product differentiation between the
Winnebago and Itasca lines has been a priority
of late, and we assume that will be the case in
the 2009 models.
OLSON: As we develop our plans — and I can’t say
a whole lot about it — we are trying to spread that differentiation so that we are not competing against ourselves. We’ll have some announcements to be made at
dealer days this year that will emphasize that again. We
think it is the right strategy. Over the course of the
years, we did start cloning Winnebago and Itasca, not
purposefully starting to compete against ourselves.
We’ve got to take that away and give our Itasca partners the same benefits that our Winnebago partners
have and not compete against each other. We want to
compete against the Fleetwoods and the Thors and the because they’ve still got Congress that they have to
Monacos and those guys, not against ourselves.
deal with. One person is not going to change the
RVB: What are the prospects for a turnaround direction of this country.
in the U.S. marketplace?
Is this (turnaround) going to happen in November,
OLSON: Right now, I don’t think you'll see anything December, January … right after the election?
turn around until post-election. The issue right now is Probably not. What I see happening is that it will probthat consumer confidence is down due to the war, due ably take hold during the (2009) spring selling season,
to the uncertainty of gas prices and the home mort- when people start getting the itch to get into the
gage debacle. On a positive note, we do have the inter- lifestyle. I think it’s going to be 12 months from now.
est-rate reductions thrown in there, but they haven’t That’s my perception. I have no facts to back that up —
taken hold yet. And I don’t know if that’s strong enough other than 38 years of experience. 6
right now, by itself, to counteract all the other things I
just talked about.
Why does the election
matter? If you look at an
election year, people tend
to become more conservative. They hold off on discretionary
purchases
because they want to see
who’s going to run the
country. After you have the
election, people start to
loosen up. The bottom line
is that it probably doesn’t
Winnebago’s management team includes (seated, l-r) Bob Olson, Bruce Hertzke and Ray Beebe,
make a hill of beans of dif- vice president, general counsel and secretary; (standing, l-r) Sarah Nielsen, vice president and
ference whether it’s a CFO; Bob Gossett, vice president-administration; Bill O’Leary, vice president-product development;
Democrat or a Republican Roger Martin, vice president-sales and marketing; and Randy Potts, vice president-manufacturing.
Y
RO
AD
FIFT
YE
Q&A from page 48
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Page 64
NEWS
RVIA Committee
from page 7
64
from page 7
through implementation of the Go RVing
Committee on Excellence task force recommendations, and the formation of brand committees
made up of dealers carrying specific brands.
In addition, RVDA leaders discussed professional development opportunities for dealership
employees through the RV Learning Center, the
RV Dealers International Convention/Expo, and the
proposed development of a career path for RV
technicians.
The delegates also reviewed strategies to contend with challenges posed by formaldehyde, RV
weight labels, forklift safety and legislation in
Congress that would prohibit contract arbitration
of consumer sales agreements.
The meeting, held near Washington D.C.,
marked the first time the Board of Delegates met
outside of the RVDA convention.
“The level of commitment that the delegates
have to this industry and to their fellow dealers is
amazing,” said RVDA Chairman Jeff Pastore of
Hartville RV Center, Hartville, Ohio. “This meeting
was crucial to implementing our strategic plan,
which will help dealers and the industry survive
and thrive.”
Based on delegate input, RVDA will develop a
program, plan and budget for its 2009 fiscal year,
which begins July 1.
In related news, the RVDA will be holding three
feature economist Richard Curtin, director of
Consumer Research at the University of Michigan,
providing his projections for the RV industry for
the upcoming year.
RVIA President Richard Coon will also present
his views on the association and the industry.
“Committee Week is one of our most important
events,” said Coon. “The work done during the
week charts the course for RVIA for the next year.
We are very fortunate to have so many committed
and talented committee members who volunteer
their time to participate.”
Committee Week will dovetail with Capitol Hill
Advocacy Day on June 11, allowing RVIA members to visit U.S. senators, representatives and
key legislative staff.
“Advocacy Day is vitally important to our efforts
to increase awareness of the RV industry on the
federal level,” said Jay Landers, RVIA senior
director of government affairs. “Congressional
visits help strengthen relationships between our
members and the members of Congress who represent their states and districts.”
RVIA Government Affairs staff schedule appointments with elected officials, provide briefing materials and accompany members on visits. The program also gives participants the opportunity to
schedule plant and factory visits as well as have
photos taken with congressmen and senators. 6
RVDA Delegates
sessions in May addressing compliance issues
associated with running an RV dealership.
Topics will include:
■ Setting up a compliance program
■ How to comply with rules for handling and
safeguarding consumer’s financial information
■ Fully disclosing terms and conditions
involved in the dealership’s financial transactions
with consumers
■ Preparing for the November 1 compliance
deadline for the Identity Theft "Red Flag"
regulations
Jan Kelly, RV Learning Center faculty member,
will be conducting the meetings that will also
examine F&I processes and associated federal
regulations.
Sessions, which run 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., are
scheduled for: Atlanta, May 22; Nashville, Tenn.,
May 28; and Dallas, May 29. Cost is $1,295 for
the first dealership registration, $795 for each
additional participant from the same dealership
location. The fee includes lunch and an AFIP
Compliance Kit (a $495 value) — one per dealership location. 6
Pomona Show
from page 12
about vacations.”
AGI, parent to RVBusiness, cur-rently owns 47 RV, boat and home and
garden shows across the country that
are spread throughout the year and is
in the process of acquiring more.
“Home and garden shows are down.
Boat shows are flat, but sales at RV
shows are still ticking away,” Gaither
said. He noted that local advertising
prior to shows and mailings to
Affinity’s database of 6 million RVers
generally has kept attendance up.
“We had a 16.5% increase in attendance at our Denver show in January,
which was phenomenal,” Gaither
added.
According to Gaither, Affinity
Events plans to bundle eight fall
shows in different cities under a “big
advertising tent” to help dealers move
inventory prior to the National RV
Trade Show in Louisville, Ky., in
early December. — Bob Ashley 6
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Page 65
RETAIL TRENDS
February ’08: Soft Market Impacts Bottom Line
as All Dealers Post Larger Monthly Net Loss
This is the financial report for the two months ending February 29, 2008. The current softness in the
RV market is reflected in the bottom lines of all sizes of dealer groups. While only the largest ($5 million
to $10 million) retailers reported higher new RV inventory compared to 2007, all are reporting a drop in
new RV sales and total dealership sales (although mid- to large stores have grown their total company
gross margin). The drop-off in sales has resulted in all dealerships posting higher net losses for the
month; average net losses at largest stores were more than three times that for the same period in ’07.
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$1 Million to $5 Million Dealers
FEBRUARY YTD
New RV Sales
Used RV Sales
Total Dealership Sales
2008 AVERAGE DEALER
$219,257
$80,322
$345,593
Patent Pending
2007 AVERAGE DEALER
14.2%
16.9%
$239,312
$83,633
$397,154
14.0%
15.9%
CHANGE
-8.4%
-4.0%
-13.0%
GROSS MARGINS
Total Company GM
$86,066
GM %
24.9%
$102,300
GM %
25.8%
-0.9 pts.
Expenses
Personnel Expense
Advertising Expense
Total Expenses
$71,611
$12,201
$141,459
% GM
83.2%
14.2%
164.4%
$71,039
$13,053
$139,464
% GM
69.4%
12.8%
136.3%
13.8 pts.
1.4 pts.
28.1 pts.
Net Profit/Loss
Net Profit % of Sales
($55,393)
(16.0%)
(36.3%)
49.0%
(64.4%)
($37,164)
(9.4%)
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$5 Million to $10 Million Dealers
FEBRUARY YTD
2008 AVERAGE DEALER
2007 AVERAGE DEALER
13.5%
17.9%
$473,135
$140,477
$799,763
New RV Sales
Used RV Sales
$438,788
$108,950
$741,471
GROSS MARGINS
Total Company GM
$208,024
GM %
28.1%
$208,842
GM %
26.1%
2.0 pts.
Expenses
Personnel Expense
Advertising Expense
Total Expenses
$132,519
$20,457
$259,911
% GM
63.7%
9.8%
124.9%
$125,272
$19,963
$248,769
% GM
60.0%
9.6%
119.1%
3.7 pts.
0.2 pts.
5.8 pts.
Net Profit/Loss
($51,886)
(7.0%)
(19.1%)
30.0%
(24.9%)
($39,927)
(5.0%)
13.9%
20.3%
CHANGE
-7.3%
-22.4%
-7.3%
FEBRUARY YTD
New RV Sales
Used RV Sales
2008 AVERAGE DEALER
$1,229,444
$446,605
$2,128,269
2007 AVERAGE DEALER
11.9%
15.5%
$1,412,099
$487,624
$2,375,232
12.2%
16.7%
CHANGE
-12.9%
-8.4%
-10.4%
GROSS MARGINS
Total Company GM
$485,874
GM %
22.8%
$513,082
GM %
21.6%
1.2 pts
Expenses
Personnel Expense
Advertising Expense
Total Expenses
$277,947
$50,020
$540,378
% GM
57.2%
10.3%
111.2%
$272,096
$48,531
$527,573
% GM
53.0%
9.5%
102.8%
4.2 pts.
0.8 pts.
8.4 pts.
Net Profit/Loss
($54,504)
(2.6%)
(2.8%)
276.1%
(11.2%)
($14,491)
(0.6%)
DIGITAL ANTENNA, CIRCLE 135 ON READER SERVICE CARD
$10 Million and Higher Dealers
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4/17/08
7:19 PM
Why
Aren't
You
Renting
RV’s?
6 Reasons To Be In
The Rental Business
• Generate Additional
Positive Cash Flow
• Create Your Own Clean
Used Sales Inventory
• Introduce Potential
Customers To The RV
Lifestyle
• Provide A Service Other
RV Dealers Don’t
• Build Interest In Your
Dealership With A Younger
Customer Base
• RV Rentals Drive Sales
MBA INSURANCE, CIRCLE 112 ON READER SERVICE CARD
MBA Insurance, Since 1978
• Insuring
• Motorhomes / Travel
Trailers / Pop-Ups
Page 66
Forest City
from page 34
empty, just about the same size as that
Colorado factory. That’s when he came
up with the idea to bring a trailer manufacturer here.”
According to Carter, the economic
development committee had searched
for about a year to bring a factory into
Forest City with no results. “We offered
them the moon, but we couldn’t get anybody to commit,” he said. “Then John K.
came in with this plan to negotiate with
Modernistic Industries to open a plant in
Forest City.”
Modernistic came, and then left, and
Hanson headed a local group that
bought out the company.
“John K. was determined,” said Carter,
88. “He always had incredible sales ability, and he sold us on the fact that the RV
business would snowball. There were
some pitfalls along with way, but ultimately Forest City began to see the benefits of Winnebago. It brought life back to
the town and became a very important
part of the city.”
In addition to providing employment
and local revenue, Carter said
Winnebago has also attracted other
businesses to the area. “We have a 3M
distribution center that came here
because of Winnebago,” he said.
There is also an RV custom-painting
operation, Elkhart-based CDI, that set up
shop across from Winnebago’s campus.
Carter said the current civic leaders are
also soliciting other RV suppliers.
However, Carter acknowledged that
Hanson was steadfast that no other RV
manufacturer would be courted by
Forest City. “John K. was adamant that he
didn’t want any competition, which tied
our hands to a certain extent,” he said.
“As much as Winnebago brought to
Forest City, we did have our differences
at times.”
I N F LUX O F O UTS I D E R S
As Winnebago continued to grow,
Carter said that people started to see a
developing trend. An influx of out-oftown workers were commuting to
Winnebago, in part because there wasn’t
enough housing in Forest City. Today,
despite a large development in Forest
City spearheaded by Hanson that is
almost solely occupied by Winnebago
employees, there is still a disparity.
“We continued razzing John that so
many people were coming from out of
town,” Carter said. “It’s been pretty consistent over the years that only 30% to
35% of Winnebago’s employees are
from Forest City.”
Dick Hanson (no relation), president of
Waldorf College, agreed with Carter
while noting the “daily 3:30pm traffic
jam” caused by Winnebago employees
exiting Forest City.
“In many ways Forest City is still struggling like it was 50 years ago,” he said.
“For example, Winnebago has remained
on the sideline, in many respects, with
regard to improvements for our downtown area.”
The industry’s cyclical nature has also
signaled layoffs, including a recent cutback, although Winnebago has certainly
avoided the huge up-and-down swings
experienced by other RV companies.
“One of the things I’m most proud of
with the management team we’ve got
right now, is that over the course of the
last 12 years, we’ve had two small layoffs,” Olson said.
But both Carter and Hanson were
quick to note that the positives far outweigh any detractions.
“Waldorf College may not exist now if
it wasn’t for the support of the Hanson
Foundation,” Hanson said. “Winnebago
has made an incredible impact on this
area, both as a source of jobs and
income, but also enhancing the quality
of life.”
Carter added, “Forest City is out in the
middle of nowhere — (yet) it’s home to a
Fortune 500 company that has provided
secure jobs for the last 50 years.”
John V. Hanson observed that the bottom line is that Winnebago’s success
ultimately translates into benefits for
Forest City.
“For the most part, Winnebago needs
to take care of Winnebago,” he said. “If
we do that then it will help the town.”
He added, “I think without a doubt, the
people in Forest City are proud to be
associated with Winnebago. For the past
50 years we have built a profitable company, and we have built a positive relationship with our community. It’s been a
great ride, and let’s hope it lasts another
50 years.” 6
Call MBA for your rental quote
1-800-622-2201
www.MBAinsurance.net
CAPCO runs 24-hour shifts, extruding aluminum for Winnebago and outside customers.
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Timeline
4/18/08
3:59 PM
from page 34
Page 67
COMING IN SEPTEMBER!
2000
ny’s Forest City complex, for its Ultimate Advantage and
Freedom coaches, one of four brand lines (along with
Winnebago, Itasca and Rialta) built by the company.
2001– Company takes the No. 1 combined market
share position in Class A and Class C retail sales.
Winnebago Sightseer and Itasca Sunova Class A coaches debut, along with Class C Winnebago Vista and
Itasca Sunstar.
2002– Company partners with CDI LLC to provide fullbody paint options for its 2002 model lines.
2003– Company
again is recognized
as motorhome market sales leader.
Diesel pushers Winnebago Vectra and
2003
Itasca Horizon debut.
2004– Revenues for fiscal 2004 surpass $1 billion.
Winnebago Industries is named “Most Admired” RV
manufacturer in America according to a poll conducted
by RV Business.
2005– Winnebago celebrates 35 years of trad2005
ing on the NYSE by company representatives participating in the Closing
Bell ceremony on Sept. 9.
Company introduces the
Winnebago View/Itasca
Navion and the new Winnebago Tour/Itasca Ellipse.
2006– Company introduces new Class C coaches — the
Winnebago Access and Itasca Impulse — and adds Class
A lines with the Winnebago Vista and Itasca Sunstar.
2007–
Winnebago 2007
Industries
receives its
12th consecutive
R V D A
Quality
Circle Award — the only RV manufacturer to receive the
award every year since its inception. Company celebrates
the production of its 400,000th motorhome.
2008– Winnebago Industries Inc. celebrates its 50th
anniversary. Congratulations! 6
2008 RV DEALER
DIRECTORY
DEALERS – act now to have your dealership included in
the most comprehensive listing available of RV retailers
throughout the United States and Canada. Please take
a moment to fill out this brief profile, then return it (or
a copy) to the address or fax number at the bottom of the
page. The 2008 RV DEALER DIRECTORY will be published in conjunction with the September edition of
RVBusiness magazine — and your listing is FREE!
Company Name ______________________________________
P.O. Box ____________________________________________
Street Address _______________________________________
City __________________________State_____Zip__________
Phone Number(s) (
Fax Number(s) (
) ______________________________
) ________________________________
Email ______________________________________________
Web Address ________________________________________
Please mark the categories which best describes your dealership.
❑ New Unit Sales
❑ RV Rentals
❑ Used Unit Sales
❑ Service Center
❑ Retail (Parts and Accessories)
Mail or Fax to:
RV Business Magazine
2008 RV Dealer Directory,
2575 Vista Del Mar Drive, Ventura, CA 93001
Fax: (805) 667-4484
Questions? Please call (805) 667-4383.
Thank you for your time.
2008
MAY
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068-RVB Class 2008-05
4/18/08
2:41 PM
C L A S S I F I E D
Page 68
A D V E R T I S I N G
BUSINESS
OPPORTUNITIES
MOTORHOMES
FOR SALE
BECOME AN RV RENTAL DEALER
El Monte RV is expanding its Dealer
Rental Network. The company is currently
looking for new dealers in key areas throughout
the USA. El Monte RV supplies the motorhomes, reservations, and necessary training and
software. For additional information, please call
“Dealer Program” at (800) 367-4707 or visit our
website at www.elmonterv.com and click on the
“Contact Us” link and select “New Dealer
Inquiries”.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
2005 - 2008 CLASS A and CLASS C
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MOTORHOMES
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Nationwide!
Call Clint 1-877-520-MINI (6464)
INSTANT CASH FOR 2001 - Current model
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Call or email Craig Woods, 1-800-511-8502,
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Helping the RV Industry grow for over 40 years!
VISIT RVBUSINESS.COM
FOR UP-TO-THE-MINUTE INDUSTRY NEWS!
©
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Contact Bill Fishfader @ 1-509-993-0321
RVs NORTHWEST • SPOKANE, WA
HELP
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growing. Excellent pay and benefits. Fun environment. Fax resumé (970) 245-1308 or Email:
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EXPERIENCED General Sales Manager &
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be capable of ABOVE AVERAGE PERFORMANCE for ABOVE AVERAGE PAY. Only
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WHOLESALE ACCOUNT REP
El Monte RV is looking for an experienced
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CLASSIFIEDS
Use this form or your own stationery to submit your ad copy!
Classified Ads — Priced at $18 per line, 40 characters and spaces per line, five-line minimum.
Ad closing for the July issue is May 6. This issue reaches subscribers June 27.
GENERAL INFO: Blind Box service is available at an additional cost of $15. Allow one line of billable space for Blind Box address.
For ad with photo, limited to RVs and real estate, please add $30. • For your ad to appear in red type add $25.
All classifieds are prepaid by check, credit card or money order. No agency commissions or cash discounts.
Name:
Address:
Phone/Fax:
Credit Card Number:
Run for
Expiration:
issues
Category:
Signature:
RV BUSINESS Classifieds, PO Box 8510, Ventura, CA 93002-9912 • Fax (805) 667-4379 • Email [email protected]
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NEWS
WE ARE A LEADING MANUFACTURER
AND SUPPLIER to the Heavy Truck industry
of vision systems for Commercial Vehicles. We
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We are looking for a motivated sales and
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development with regard to specific RV
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initiate new business projects. Must have
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or Marketing and a minimum of 5+ years
in sales management in an RV supplier
manufacturing/distribution environment.
Aftermarket Manager
This results driven individual will develop,
plan, communicate, manage, organize and
control aftermarket market activities. Must
be capable of providing strategic insight
and direction that will minimize risk and
maximize growth. Qualified candidate
Must have a BS or equivalent in Engineering,
Business or Marketing and a minimum of
5-7 years in Account or Program Management
in a manufacturing environment and a
familiarity with the trucking industry.
Lang-Mekra offers excellent compensation and
a comprehensive benefits package tailored to
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please send resumé and salar y histor y to
[email protected]. Replies to candidates
under consideration only. EOE.
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Lon Larson from page 10
Tribal-Owned Parks from page 10
on the boards for the California
Manufactured Housing Institute
(CMHI) and the Governing Council
for the supply division with the Florida
Manufactured Housing Association
(FMHA).
"Our vision is to continue building
the Hall of Fame by adding a show
pavilion, a manufactured housing hall, a
manufactured housing village and to
enlarge the conference center to accommodate 1,000 people,” Larson said. “I
challenge all companies and individuals
that participate in and earn a living from
the RV and MH industries to help us
continue to build our industries’
heritage and fulfill the dream.”
A native of Chicago, Larson moved to
California in 1970 and joined OTI in
1978 to work on manufactured housing
earthquake bracing and foundations.
When OTI went national in 1994 with
new foundation products for the manufactured housing industry, Larson was
responsible for marketing and code
approvals nationwide.
Recently, OTI started manufacturing
Oliver Camping Trailers, and Larson
has been involved with the launch of
this new product in the RV industry. 6
systems development for Kampgrounds of
America (KOA); Kathy Palmeri, director of
franchise sales for Leisure System Inc. (LSI);
Bruce Hoster, president of Affinity Group Inc.’s
(AGI) Coast-to-Coast and executive director
of Camp Club USA; and Bill Dawson of
Thousand Trails Inc.
Other speakers will cover topics such as
park design and development, finance, insurance, camp store and related retail operations
and marketing.
McNichols expects to have around 120 tribal leaders and program managers in attendance representing 70 to 80 Indian tribes
across the country. He said the formation of
an association of Native American campground owners would be considered at the
conference.
McNichols has no accurate figures on the
number of Native American-owned and
operated RV parks and campgrounds in the
U.S. He sent out letters last year to the 540
federally recognized tribes in the U.S. and
received responses from 30 that indicated an
interest in forming an association. “If we
started out with 30 or 40 tribes in an association, we could do a lot of good, particularly
with marketing,” he said.
The Native American RV parks run in conjunction with gambling casinos have the highest profile, he said, but he surmises there are
many other smaller campgrounds that are
viable but less successful.
McNichols, who retired from the BIA two
years ago, has done RV park consulting work
for several tribes in the Southwest and
Northwest. “There seems to be so much
interest in it that we thought we should show
tribes how to put together, step by step,
develop, market and operate a successful RV
park,” he said.
The timing is ideal to sponsor such a conference and not just because of the spread of
Indian casinos, McNichols explained. “A lot of
people are interested in Indian culture, and
tribes are just beginning to learn to tell their
own story in their own way,” he said. Some
people will follow the “pow-wow circuit”
across the Southwest and hit major gatherings
on reservations to soak up the Indian culture,
he said. “If you had an RV association, you
could set up tours from one park to the next all
summer. Then you have the other group, the
‘casino folks.’ RV parks seem to be a complementary venture for a casino. Together they
supplement each other.”
He noted that tribes that have been successful in casino management are looking to
help other tribes on economic development.
“RV parks seem to be a natural for some of
these reservations,” he said.
McNichols expects participants to come
from all parts of the U.S. and did not rule out
reservations from Canada, although they
would not be eligible for the federal grants
that will be discussed at the conference.
— Steve Bibler 6
Airstream from page 14
each other. And Airstream provides
some real authenticity.”
The 71⁄2-foot-wide European Airstream is “nowhere near comparable”
to its U.S. counterpart, Hicks said.
“They look like a U.S. Airstream but
it’s very much different what’s inside
them.”
For instance, European Airstreams
are equipped with lightweight German
furniture and are heated with a central
radiator system made in Sweden.
Airstream Europe sends lightweight German-made chassis to
Airstream Inc.’s factory in Jackson
Center, Ohio, which assembles the
unit’s aluminum shell. The trailer is
then returned to the United Kingdom
where it is outfitted to meet British
and European standards. “It takes a
great deal of effort,” Hicks said.
The European Airstream, with a
base price that tops $90,000 (U.S.), is
being sold by dealerships in Penrith,
Mengerskirchen, Germany and
Gouda, Holland. 6
MAY
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007-RVB_0805_LO_TOP
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Page 70
NEWS
FEMA Requirements from page 8
the wrong way to go.”
Garpow, however, did acknowledge that the
move gave suppliers something tangible to work
with. “OEMs know up front what will be required
when they bid on contracts,” Garpow said. “The
materials needed to meet these new requirements will undoubtedly be more expensive, so
they will need to adjust their prices accordingly.”
As of press time, FEMA’s announcement represented the latest upshot from allegations first
leveled in early 2006 of respiratory ailments by
residents associated with formaldehyde outgassing, which can be heightened by lack of
ventilation, heat or a variety of other factors like
smoking cigarettes.
Air quality testing by CDC of 519 trailers in
February showed levels in around one-third of
the units could affect people more susceptible to
fumes such as the elderly or children. Following
the testing, FEMA issued a pronouncement that
it would relocate remaining residents. It’s estimated that around 140,000 travel trailers and
mobile homes were employed for disaster relief
and that in early April approximately 34,000
units were still occupied.
Ongoing action at the federal level also provided fodder for lawyers representing trailer residents in a pending class-action lawsuit that
consolidates several cases previously filed in
Gulf Coast federal courts.
The suit names as defendants FEMA and 62
companies involved in supplying the agency
with travel trailers, park models and mobile
homes, according to the seven-law firm
Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, which will seek
to have the case certified as a class action.
Included in that list are RV builders Coachmen
Industries Inc.; Fleetwood Enterprises Inc.; Thor
Industries Inc.; Gulf Stream Coach Inc; Forest
River Inc.; Jayco Corp.; Monaco Coach Corp;
Pilgrim International Inc.; Recreation By Design
LLC; and Starcraft RV Inc.
The lawsuit, which lawyers said could grow
to include more than 1,000 plaintiffs, alleges
that manufacturers failed to warn the federal
government about the risks of formaldehyde
used in particle board, fiberboard, plywood,
glues and adhesives used to manufacture the
housing units and then “ignored or deliberately
and fraudulently concealed” the risks.
Although the spotlight continues to zero in on
emergency relief units, media reports have also
surfaced attempting to draw a link between
formaldehyde and mainstream RVs.
In early April, an article generated by the
Indianapolis Star, later picked up by USA Today,
focused on a family that claimed members
showed signs of formaldehyde outgassing following a camping trip in a conventional towable. But, according to a recent survey conducted by the Recreation Vehicle Industry
Association (RVIA), public perception remains
positive toward the quality and safety of RVs.
In its report, Harris Interactive concluded
that increasing awareness of media reports
70
about formaldehyde levels in FEMA trailers
has not increased concerns about the safety
of RVs among current or future RV owners or
the general public. Harris’s final report on the
latest data, gathered March 7-10 from a sample of 1,000 adult Americans nationwide,
showed that:
■ 66% of current and previous RV owners
and 55% of those who plan a future RV purchase are aware of news stories about
formaldehyde.
■ Current owners are most likely to agree
that RVs are safe (85%), followed closely by
future and past owners — regardless of their
awareness of media reports on FEMA trailers
and formaldehyde.
■ Harris Interactive said that, overall, awareness of news about formaldehyde has risen
from 45% in September 2007 to 58% today.
■ A strong majority of all adult Americans
— 67% — continue to agree that RVs are
safe, a number that has remained unchanged
since Harris began tracking this issue.
■ There has been a significant decline in the
number who disagree that RVs are safe: now
down from 20% to 12%.
■ Those aware of media reports are the
most likely to distinguish between RVs and
FEMA trailers: 54% now see a difference,
compared to 44% in September.
Other recent developments in the formaldehyde issue include:
■ Gulf Stream, a major provider of emergency living units (ELUs) to FEMA, announced
in March that it converted to the use of lowemission controlled wood products “newly
available to the industry.” The company said
that its products will meet or exceed the
proposed CARB standard for formaldehydeemission levels and that it’s the first RV
manufacturer to receive third-party certification of its applicable wood materials control
processes and “related verification testing” per
an audit recently completed by PFS Corp.,
Cottage Grove, Wis.
■ In early April, the House Science and
Technology Subcommittee on Investigations
and Oversight was examining a report issued
by CDC a year earlier that allegedly “minimized
the dangers of formaldehyde.” The report concluded that leaving windows open and running
air conditioning would keep formaldehyde
below “levels of concern.”
■ CDC reported in early April that it was
examining the medical records of more than
1,000 children in a Mississippi county. As
reported by the Hattiesburg American, the
CDC reviewed records of children between 2
and 12 who had been treated for respiratory
problems, skin rashes or gastrointestinal illnesses to determine if there was a higher incidence in patients living in trailers.
■ RVIA added a “Facts About
Formaldehyde” section to the association’s
website to help address potential questions on
the topic. Located in the “technical” section of
www.rvia.org, the site includes information on
the science of formaldehyde, one of the most
commonly used chemicals found in many
consumer products. There is a review of the
housing and workplace standards set by the
government for public safety along with a FAQ
area. — Dave Barbulesco 6
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071-RVB0805 PG 71 TRAILMAN
4/15/08
3:46 PM
Page 71
“Instead of looking for customers,
what if they found you?”
We have a terrific product.
A great marketing team.
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See why dealers can sell over 1 million dollars a year,
at some of the highest margins in the industry.
The New TrailManor. It’s something to see.
For your dealer pack and DVD, call 1-800-707-7061
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T h e Tr a v e l Tr a i l e r T h a t To w s L i k e A P o p - U p
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004-RVB0805 PG CV4 GE COMM
4/15/08
3:47 PM
Page CV4
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Welcome to our digital edition of RV Business Magazine. This format makes it easy for you to navigate the magazine and
provides direct links to Internet sites of our advertisers, our
RVBusiness.com Web site, and many Web sites to supplement our
editorial features.
Here are some tips on how to use Digital RV Business:
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• Click on the User Guide button on any page to bring
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