MSRP Jump?

[donreitz]

Last fall we fell in love with the Safari 25 SS, 2004 model year. Woodland Travel in Grand Rapids, MI had one and we were working on a reasonable price. Before jumping in with both feet however, we spent some time with a friend's Safari 22, just to make sure the investment was worth it.

Now we're sure, but something appears to have happened to the MSRP in the interim. Last fall the MSRP for the Safari was $35,903. The current MSRP shown on the Airstream web site is $39,143, a whopping 9.2 percent increase.

Am I missing something or did the list price on this unit actually go up just under ten percent in six months, and if so, what explains such a large jump?

Seriously baffled,
Don

[Silvertwinkie]

I had been looking at the Safari C since about late July, early August of '03 (the '04 model year) and even then it was base priced at $39,143 retail. It was my understanding that the $39,143 price started in May or June of '03 when the new 2004s started to roll off the line. As a matter of fact, somewhere on this forum, back as early as January of '03 there was talk and postings of the $39,143 price increase that was on it's way if it hadn't already taken effect.

[Silvertwinkie]

PS- there is another price increase for the '05 model year too....not sure what it is, but that would mean that the retail price of the Safari C that was $39,143 will no doubt cost you even more as an '05.

FYI......

Eric

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by Silvertwinkie

PS- there is another price increase for the '05 model year too....not sure what it is, but that would mean that the retail price of the Safari C that was $39,143 will no doubt cost you even more as an '05.

FYI......

Eric

At the region 9 rally, Larry Huttle said to expect about a 5% increase due to increasing material costs.

[Silvertwinkie]

That would make the Safari C about $41,100.

[donreitz]

Oops. My bad. The $35,903 price is for a Safari 22, not a 25SS. We started out considering the 22 footer but moved up to the 25 footer when we figured we'd want to hold onto the unit for the long term.

Thanks for setting me straight. This forum is always useful. I'm going to start armwrestling with the dealer again.

Don

[joshua32064]

Being in the manufacturing business, I can tell you that the cost of aluminum has sky rocketed over the last few months. Because of this, I am sure that Airstream has seen a reduction in profit and that is the reason for the increase.

[67caravel]

If you buy before the dealer takes delivery, you can probably command at least a 20% discount... Food for thought.

X

[uwe]

Hey X-RaY,
That's a very cool order you got going! 22CCD?
just looked at the 25CCD again last night. Tempting, but wife LOVES the 1971 beyond words.
Congrats on the new Airstream.

[Silvertwinkie]

Originally Posted by joshua32064

Being in the manufacturing business, I can tell you that the cost of aluminum has sky rocketed over the last few months. Because of this, I am sure that Airstream has seen a reduction in profit and that is the reason for the increase.

Joshua....have you heard any reason why? Just curious.

Eric

[idahosafari]

Originally Posted by joshua32064

Being in the manufacturing business, I can tell you that the cost of aluminum has sky rocketed over the last few months. Because of this, I am sure that Airstream has seen a reduction in profit and that is the reason for the increase.

Aluminum requires an enormous amount of electricity to produce. A couple of years ago during the Enron fiasco, it was more profitable for Kaiser Aluminum to pay their 1200 Eastern Washington workers to stay home. Kaiser re-sold the electricity they contracted to buy from hydroelectric dams on the Columbia river to California utilities. Eventually Kaiser closed down their Spokane, Washington smelter forever and those 1200 employees found themselves out of work. You can read more about it here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...zbriefs27.html

- Charlie

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by Silvertwinkie

Joshua....have you heard any reason why? Just curious.

Eric

Eric,
Good ole supply, demand and reduced manufacturing capacity. You should check out the scrap steel and copper prices We are selling scrap copper at over $1.00 a pound. Steel was getting $150-$300 per ton(.075 to .15 per #) There is a world wide shortage of raw materials for steel right now, plus the US has reduced capacity with the recent aquisition and combining of steel plants. And China is on a building boom, IIRC the numbers they are consuming abour 85% of ALL steel being produced WORLDWIDE! We have also been shutting down aluminum smelting plants because they are expensive to run, as well as having problems meeting enviormental standards. To the best of my knowledge the last new Aluminum smelter plant built in the USA was back in the mid 70's in Fredrick, MD. I was part of a survey team that looked at they old Reynolds facility in Wenatchee(sp)WA. They overall contamination and condition of the plant made it more cost effective to dismantle the facility rather than to try and clean it up and restart it. Most of our heavy industry like that is moving off shore, due to enviormental concerns as well as labor costs. A sad but true happening.

Aaron

[Silvertwinkie]

Ouch... I had no idea!

Thanks for the great info all!

Eric

[59toaster]

Yes metal prices have gone through the roof. wonder if I can make a profit off of all the steel I have in my garage

Watch yourself. I don't know where this came from but I had a buisness try to pull a fast one on me and carge extra because of the metal prices. Problem the stuff I was buying they already had in stock and been sitting on the shelfs for over a year well before this was happening. I called them on it and made them honor their published price. Nice way to gouge the customer to nail them on a increas on stuff you didn't pay an increase on.

[doh]

I'm in the process of having a back and partial sides added to my RV port. Steel prices are up 66% since last June - due to demand in China. The steel industry uses a baseline ref. of Jan. 1997 and except for rebar and rod which are 105% of that baseline, most other steel is still about 70% of Jan 1997. The world steel industry has been in a slump since Nov. 2001 and starting to recover.

My contractor (who uses US made steel) told me of a large steel building he built a year ago for $24K and a identical one last month for $49K, so to determine if he was pulling a quick one, I did my Internet research, - the increases are real & significant. Increased fuel costs are increasing shipping costs, the only thing that is decreasing, is my income.

Our leader - Geo. Jr., lifted steel import tariffs in January - supposedly to lower prices - the opposite happened.

China's demand equals Mexico & Canada combined.

This has to be responsible for some cost increases in Airstream chassis's. The increases are not likely to stop anytime soon.

I don't ever want to see Airstream cut corners to reduce costs. We, as consumers, have to bear the burden of supply & demand.

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by 59toaster

Watch yourself. I don't know where this came from but I had a buisness try to pull a fast one on me and carge extra because of the metal prices. Problem the stuff I was buying they already had in stock and been sitting on the shelfs for over a year well before this was happening. I called them on it and made them honor their published price. Nice way to gouge the customer to nail them on a increas on stuff you didn't pay an increase on.

Works the same way at the gas pump. ever notice how when crude oil goes up, the increase at the pumps is instantaneous!!!!

but when crude oil drops...prices linger at the high end, and station owners whine that "..they bought all this stock at high prices, so they have to sell it high to recoup their cost...". yeah. I see how it works.

[Silvertwinkie]

WOW...this is way more info that I expected to see. All good!