Which would you rather be, a motorhome manufacturer or a towable manufacturer? If you picked the latter, then you’d probably be rejoicing with the latest industry statistics. The RVIA’s (RV Industry Association) latest monthly summary of wholesale shipments from plants to dealers was just released. RV manufacturers’ January shipments are good news for towables, but simply horrific for motorhomes.
RV manufacturers’ January shipments spin
A total of 22,674 RVs were shipped out to dealers from manufacturers in January. This led to a “continue to be optimistic about the direction the industry is heading” spin from RVIA’s president, CEO, and cheerleader, Craig Kirby. The brass tacks show that last month, RV builders saw a total increase of 11.1% in shipments, when compared with January 2023’s 20,405 RVs.
Some towables shoot up, others flop
Ah, but the devil lies in the details. Towable RVs were up 21.1% from last January with 19,523 shipments. The leaders in that horse race were travel trailers, which were up more than 27%. Nowhere hot on their heels, fifth wheels were up nearly 8%.
Why, you may wonder, are towables only up 21%? Because other “towable” or non-motorized rigs took some serious hits in January. Pop-ups deflated more than 35%, and truck campers shrank back nearly 7%; all when compared to January 2023 shipments.
Motorhomes broke down beside shipment road
Motorhomes broke down beside the shipment roadway. That’s a phenomenal 26.5% loss in numbers when compared to January 2023 shipments. This year, 3,151 units shipped out, compared to 4,228 in 2023. While no motorhome class did well, Class A units took the biggest hit, down almost 38%.
As a footnote, park models also took a thorough dressing down, finishing January down more than 44% compared to the same month last year, with just 305 wholesale shipments.
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Thank you, Russ and Tina! Rats! Bought our RV #2 (36′ DP) two years too soon, if prices are collapsing as much as shipments. I doubt that they are, yet. Either way, thank you for the news! Safe travels! 🙂
Never thought I would complain, but finding an RV spot here in the MS, AL, LA area in the month of March is almost impossible. I can understand why people are not buying/getting out of RV’ing.