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11-08-2004, 07:21 AM
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#1
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Aluminut
2004 25' Safari
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, Illinois
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,477
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Thor to buy another RV company....
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11-08-2004, 07:53 AM
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#2
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Rivet Master
1961 22' Safari
Vienna
, Virginia
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 579
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I have a question for the legally oriented folks out there...Isn't there a point where Thor will have to worry about running into anti-trust law? It seems that pretty soon they'll own almost all of the brands out there...
Mary
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11-08-2004, 08:58 AM
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#3
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Aluminut
2004 25' Safari
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, Illinois
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,477
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Well, I'm no lawyer, but to me it would seem that eventually in America, when one buys an RV, no matter what brand, you actually will be buying from 1 of 2 or 3 parent companies. The 2 800lb gorillas that I know in the industry are Thor and Fleetwood.
Kind of like the long distance phone market. Lots of players, but most back in the day were using AT&T, MCI and Sprint networks and from what I understand, a lot still do. In the end, anti-trust and regulation all depends on how well the industry can police itself I would guess.
One thing is for sure though. From my direct exp in RVing over the past 20 years, the coaches built back when everyone was hungry and it wasn't a numbers game really turned out some good stuff (of course there were exceptions). Today, it's stockholders, marketshare, numbers, numbers, numbers. As has been posted here however, warranty numbers are becoming a LARGE part of the numbers game. As a few have said here...no time to do it right the first time, but plenty of time to do it over as we all find that as these ma and pa type family companies get bought, warranty claims start going through the roof. I forget what someone posted about Thors warranty numbers, but they were WAY, WAY high.
To give a bit of perception, back in the day, Wally was a total nut when it came to doing it right. Don, the tour guide at Airstream told us straight out, Wally would walk the floor and would look at a coach, see say a roof locker not right, he'd rip it out, lay into the folks building it and tell them do it right! Today, folks are paid based on the number of coaches they can turn out....and as some of us know, though Airstream itself (a Thor company) is making strides in it's quality process, it is still far, far from what I think it was when Wally was at the helm and it wasn't run by some big corporate monster company. This I blame squarely on these parent companies picking up independent after independent.
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11-08-2004, 11:09 AM
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#4
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Cartoon Character
2004 34' Classic
On The Road
, U.S.A.
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 885
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fireflyinva
I have a question for the legally oriented folks out there...Isn't there a point where Thor will have to worry about running into anti-trust law? It seems that pretty soon they'll own almost all of the brands out there...
Mary
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They'll go after Thor as soon as they prosecute Starbucks.
__________________
Porky
TrailerGypsies.com
WBCCI #3405 — Escapees #80360
I live the life I love and I love the life I live.
-- Willie Dixon
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11-08-2004, 11:21 AM
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#5
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RivetAddict
1986 34.5' Airstream 345
Louisville
, Kentucky
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,861
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Soon there will be only three: Mercedes, Honda and Toyota
__________________
Steven Webster
1986 Airstream 345 Classic Motorhome
AIR 1760
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11-08-2004, 11:33 AM
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#6
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Rivet Master
1975 29' Ambassador
Reno
, Nevada
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 1,351
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Mature markets usually boil down to just a few major players with a bunch of ankle knippers. The RV market still has a ways to go, especially because it is really a VAR activity rather than an OEM one.
As for the 'they don't build them like they used to' mantra - thank goodness. Warranty repairs have always been a major issue, even with Airstream - that was one of the first reasons for the big caravans, which always had special repair vehicles with parts supplies and special tools. Nowadays, RV's have so much extra convenience there are a whole lot more things that can go wrong and it is amazing that so little really does.
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11-11-2004, 04:56 PM
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#7
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2 Rivet Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by swebster
Soon there will be only three: Mercedes, Honda and Toyota
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Mercedes was bought out by Chrysler. If you look at current reports and some of the items Mercedes has removed from this luxary line, such as removing free maintainance, loaner cars etc... it is slowly becoming a high priced domistic car.
BMW is coming on strong with added value and increased programs for owners of BMWs.
Brian B... (the other Brian)
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11-11-2004, 05:30 PM
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#8
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Just an old timer...
2004 22' Interstate
Tipton
, Iowa
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 4,766
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Quote:
Originally Posted by swebster
Soon there will be only three: Mercedes, Honda and Toyota
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Steven... "In the end, there can be only one..."
Conner MacLeod, The Highlander... immortal.
__________________
havin' to fix my broken Airstreams since 1987...
AIR 2053 Current: 2004 Airstream Interstate "B-Van" T1N DODGE Sprinter
Former Airstreams: 1953 Flying Cloud, 1957 Overlander, 1961 Bambi, 1970 Safari Special, 1978 Argosy Minuet, 1985 325 Moho, 1994 Limited 34' Two-door, 1994 B190 "B-Van"
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