(December 21, 2020) — THOR Industries, Inc. has acquired Tiffin Motorhomes, Inc. and related companies for $300 million. Tiffin is best known for its high quality, luxury motorhomes.
SEE VIDEO BELOW
Monday morning, Tiffin announced the sale, saying the family will continue to run daily operations at Tiffin’s four Alabama locations – Red Bay, Winfield, Belmont, and Burnsville – and the plants will continue to manufacture the company’s motorhomes.
The purchase agreement was executed and effective at the close of business on Dec. 18, according to a company news release. Tiffin Group, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of THOR, will own the Tiffin Group, which will continue to be managed by the Tiffin family and existing senior management team. The company already owns, among others, Thor Motorcoach, Airstream, Jayco and the Erwin Hymer Group.
Robert “Bob” Tiffin, chief executive officer of Tiffin Motorhomes, said as a family-owned business since 1972, finding the right partner for the future of the Tiffin Group of companies was crucial.
“The future of this group of companies is critical not just to the Tiffin family but to our employees, our dealers and our incredibly loyal customers,” he continued. “We needed a partner who we could trust would sustain all of those elements and help us grow the business in a manner that is consistent with how we’ve done business at Tiffin for nearly 50 years.”
THOR President and CEO Bob Martin said he has “known of and respected Bob Tiffin and the Tiffin brand for many years. Bob and his family have built Tiffin into an industry leader, well known for its Class A motorhomes, quality workmanship and outstanding customer service.”
On its website, the Tiffin company noted: “We will continue to manufacture motorhomes to the highest standards of quality, craftsmanship and innovation and we will continue to provide excellent customer service to our new and existing customers. We anticipate that joining the THOR Industries family of companies will provide many manufacturing benefits, including expanded innovation, access to capital for facilities and process improvements, and the ability to improve our focus on customer service.”
No Tiffin Motorhomes facilities will be moved or closed due to the acquisition, nor will there be any change to the warranties of existing customers.
NOTES
Tiffin Motorhomes, operating in Alabama and Mississippi, manufactures a luxurious lineup of both gas and diesel Class A Motorhomes including the Allegro Breeze, Allegro Red 340, Allegro Red, Open Road Allegro, Phaeton, Allegro Bus and Zephyr models. The company also produces a premium Class C product line – The Wayfarer. Vanleigh RV, operating in Mississippi, produces a line of fifth-wheel towable products, including the Pinecrest, Vilano and Beacon models.
Additional companies within the acquired Tiffin Group include a window manufacturer (Alabama-based Wynne Enterprises, Inc.), a furniture manufacturer (Alabama-based Roma Enterprises, Inc.), a door manufacturer (Alabama-based Tiffin Door Co., Inc.), a fiberglass supplier (Mississippi-based Water-Way, Inc.), and an RV transport company (Alabama-based Drive-A-Way of Red Bay, Inc.).
Tiffin Group will operate as a stand-alone operating company within the THOR family of companies. The Tiffin family and the Tiffin Group’s experienced management team will continue to manage their operations, just as they and their family have done for the past 49 years.
Of Tiffin’s $800 million in RV sales in fiscal 2020, approximately 90% came from motorized unit sales and 10% was from towable unit sales.
The purchase price of $300 million is subject to customary post-closing adjustments.
The purchase price was funded through existing cash on-hand as well as $165 million in borrowings from THOR’s existing asset-based credit facility.
BELOW
Bob Tiffin, CEO of Tiffin Motorhomes, Inc. meets with Bob Martin, President/CEO at Thor Industries Inc. to discuss THOR Industries’ acquisition of Tiffin Motorhomes, Inc.
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This news saddens me…..I am in my 3rd Tiffin, and have been to Red Bay a few times. The quality of Tiffin Motorhomes, and their very personal customer service have made me a loyal Tiffin owner for many years. Thor’s reputation certainly does not make me optimistic that Tiffin will remain so well respected.
We are both shocked and saddened by this sale. THOR has a very bad reputation at every aspect (i.e., poor quality, customer service,). If they let the folks at Tiffin keep running things status quo then, and ony then, will Tiffin be able to stay at the top. If not……..
We Newmar owners were handed the same news 18 months age at the National rally in Syracuse. Mr. Miller acknowledged the buy-out by Winnebago and assured us that the company would still operate independently, as did Grand Design two years earlier. So far we have heard no complaints as to quality being watered down. Newmar is still building high-end coaches and have not lost any of its followers, as proven by its outstanding sales increases. I think both Thor and Winnebago bought these two companies rather than try to compete with them. I guess only time will tell.
They will let things rock on as usual for a while, then they will start a new round of models, with cutting costs and ‘economies of scale’ and ‘synergy’ and all that baloney, and whatever value was in the old brand will get caught in the slicer.
If Thor wants to prosper versus the competition, it could try something radical like build better product.
Oh my. This is so very sad. Another of the greats swallowed by one of the worst.
We just ordered our first Newmar back in end of Sept will come off the line on March 25 2021. I feel a lot more comfortable with Newmar going to Winnebago then I would Thor. We looked at Thor and talked to people who own them and was not even a little impressed with them or the Entegra Coach they now own also.
It will start small; here is money for a new factory, by the way you have to buy all your refrigerators via this contract…. and you can’t make your own cabinets, you have to use our supplier, and so on and so forth…. make no mistake, Thor does this to MAKE MORE MONEY!! Quality will suffer eventually.
I am sad to hear this. We just bought a brand new tiffin this year and have been to red bay. The entire experience was excellent. I have had a few issues and everything is taken care of promptly and professionally. I love their operation and service. I looked at many Thor coaches before my purchase and they had so many defects just sitting on the lot. Fit and finish was terrible. After doing the tiffin factory tour I could see the quality was built in and those people were craftsmen. I hope they can maintain their reputation.
Mike, you hit the nail on the head. We just purchased our first tiffin after lots of research. We found Thor has the most recalls so we decided tiffin, now this…..
Thor & Camping World…..
Another dark day in the RV world. Selling a loyal, caring and quality driven family run business is bad enough, selling to Thor is a nothing more than a slap in the face to all the Rv’ers that own Tiffins or had their hopes up to buy one. I thought it was horrible when Newmar sold to Winnebago, but this is 100 times worse.
So there is no quality made class a anymore. Cool spoon glad I bought my country coach and fixed her up. 10x better quality then any class a made today.
Another bites the dust. I can’t believe a family owned business such as Tiffin doesn’t read all the bad press that Thor gets and would agree to be swallowed up by them. Unless there was writing on the wall that Tiffin was having financial problems there would be no reason to agree to this.
sure there is…..lots of money, the whole “family owned” said I can live the life of luxury and not have to deal with day to day hassles if we do this, can you blame them? Look at Grand design and what the owners did with that company. Can`t blame them either.
I can’t use the language I would like to about this. So angry that our corrupt government allows monopolies to run wild, in every single industry. There is a reason we have antitrust and antimonopoly laws. The people are not better served by having all RVs made by 2 or 3 too-big corporations. This will not end well.
It looks like Bob Tiffin was getting on in years and didn’t want to run the company any longer. He could have chosen someone else to sell to but I’m sure Thor came up with a convenient offer. Motorhomes are by far not the only industry where customers say, “They just don’t make ’em the way they used to”.
While I am glad for Bob I am sad for the Tiffin family of users. We bought our Breeze based on the Tiffin reputation and avoided the Thor line based on reputation. I wonder how long it will be until we can not get parts and see delays in service. Good for Bob and I wish him the best.
Someone wrote in the comments below, “This will Not end Well”! 100 percent correct.
Eventually Tiffins quality will decline and their sales will begin to drop off, people in the Tiffin workforce will lose their jobs and THOR will shutter their operations and sell them off piece by piece.
While I have never owned a TIFFIN product, I have looked at them and the New Vandelay 5th Wheels. All top quality RVs!
Fortunately, my Wife and I are on our last RV. There is not much out there anymore that has any quality! We will not be buying another one, since even the one we own now, is owned by THOR!
What a shame!
It’s odd, we just watched ” It’s A Wonderful Life” over the holidays. There are Potter types everywhere, wanting to own it all. Never owning a Tiffen but always admiring them, I agree with most this is a sad day. We bought a Montana a few years ago. Not the Montana of old, quality wise. Thor is a black eye to the RV industry. We will nurse and repair our 5th wheel as long as we can. I’ll not waste our money on a sub-standard, over-priced RV again.
Thor owns Keystone, they make Montana’s.
Well, if we ever need to replace our wonderful 2017 Tiffin Phaeton guess it will be the lesser of two evils- Newmar. At least Winnebago isn’t Thor.
Just keep replacing the systems that need repair and you will always have a better coach
It will start slow. Pressure on profits. Forcing tiffin to use Thor’s suppliers. Cheaper refrigerators or furnaces, thinner flooring, more restrictions on quality of service. Thor buys companies to make money. Period. Nothing else will matter in the end.
Totally agree. It’s just a matter of time, unfortunately.
This is another sign of the times, I never owned a Tiffin but we had an Allegro in our Good Sam Chapter in north AL and one weekend camp out the owners hosted the camp out near Red Bay, AL. They had arranged for a tour of Tiffin industry, we got the royal treatment by Bob Tiffin in person, I found him to be a very nice hometown man that was a multimillionaire. Our club member use to tell of the times he’d take his motorhome in to get something fixed and how Bob Tiffin would greet him and take control of the situation like if the motorhome still belonged to him. As others have said it’s a sad day but money talks and Mr Tiffin isn’t getting any younger so I don’t blame him, apparently his children didn’t want to run the business or couldn’t. Life goes on and maybe the next generations of RVers will never appreciate what quality looked like “back in the old days”.
You’re completely uninformed. Bob’s two sons have been working with him for years. Go check the Tiffin website before you post slanderous accusations. Van and Leigh both played Division 1 college football at ‘Bama, have degrees in business, and founded Tiffin’s Vanleigh 5th Wheels which is right over the state line in Mississippi. Van and Leigh handled all the company expansion plans, building the plant and creating needed jobs in Mississippi. Irresponsible accusations like yours start ugly rumors and hurtful lies. Bob, Van and Leigh, as a group, are respected businessmen and known all over Alabama as a wonderful family. You owe the Tiffins an apology.
Slander? Hardly. Owe the Tiffins an apology? There was nothing personal or slanderous in that statement. You must be having a bad day.
Bob’s accusations are what is called defamation of character. Libel is written defamation and slander is spoken defamation. Negligent or intentional defamation are equally punishable under the law. Defamation can be punishable with general and punitive damages depending on the severity of the misrepresentations. Bob P attacked the sons’ character or fitness for their profession which is called slander per se or libel per se. The brothers do not have to show negligence or intention to recover damages. Liability is presumed by operation of law. Bob P’s attacks on the sons’ character and fitness for their profession of RV manufacturing and sales doesn’t get any more personal. Bob P. attacked the Tiffin brothers without knowing anything about them. You know absolutely nothing about the law. I doubt the Tiffins would take action for the recovery they are undoubtedly entitled to because they are good and honorable people. Happy New Year!
If they was all that smart they should have done something about the quality which continues to get worse. They still run the factory without any modern technology to speak of. No real quality system in place or proper training. I have been in manufacturing facilities across this country and Tiffin’s was the dirtiest I’d seen. No excuses for the way that factory was run.
B U S I N E S S, seller had to be willing to do so, for a price.
Thor destroys everything they touch. No quality control. No customer service. Sad day but I understand Tiffins position
Good interview between Tiffin and THOR, thank you. I’m hoping all goes as planned but am skeptical. Did anyone else notice Bob’s nervous finger tapping? Portrays my feelings, exactly. Meanwhile, I continue to be a die-hard Tiffin fan and if plant expansions are planned; please, come out West!
Sort of reminds me of Blue Star Airlines.
Reminds me of the Borg.
Tiffin was assimilated and brought into the collective of Thor.
I see this going the same way as crossroads, jayco, kz and others bought out by thor. After two or three years the tiffin family will be out and the quality will go the way of the rest of thor products as well as customer service. But like so many other things in this country sometimes the children and grandchildren of the company founders get more greedy for money and are willing to sell the family name.
Being a loyal Tiffin Owner, I am very upset at the sale of the company. You will never get the service or support the Tiffin give it’s customers. Every time a major corporation takes over another firm, it absorbs it into the corporate structure, and you loss the relationship that preexisted. In a few years Tiffin will become just another nameplate and the bottom line for Thor will be what the profit will be for each sale.
We were looking to transition from a 5th wheel to a class A this spring. After speaking with Tiffin owners and their personal experience with the quality and customer service, Tiffin was at the top of our list.
Now, that Thor has taken over, we will steer our choice in another direction. We’ve owned 3 Jayco over the past 15 years and once Thor took over, the craftsmanship, quality control and customer service have all declined …our most recent (and current) rig being a 2017 Pinnacle 5er, purchased new. It took a year to correct all the problems ….and battling with Jayco to correct all the issues became a nightmare that I never want to relive.
Bottom line is that we will never own a Thor product again.
I dream of someday manufacturing quality motorhomes and I will name my company LOKI. And we will be a thorn in THOR’s side lol.
Well, there goes the quality of Tiffin! Thor is the makes the cheapest motorhomes around, even the high dollar units are junk!