Good News about FR

[NWJeeper]

So I picked up the Feb. copy of RV Live newspaper today on a visit to Camping World and there was a very interesting article in it. I have paraphrased it a bit:

"Bigfoot, NuWa, Country Coach, National R.V., Alfa Leisure, Western Rv, Pilgrim International and Weekend Warrior are all in the process or have already ceased operations due to the weak economy and are in the process of going out of business. However, at least one company is growing, Forest River RV owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, recently expanded by acquiring Coachmen Industries"

Good to know that at least for the foreseeable future FR will still be around...

[chaser1217]

i just wonder,what companies other than forest river will be around.at last look fleetwood rv, monaco are both fighting to above water,travel supreme is gone. the list you stated is growing each day,the good thing is low prices now, but i am scared for the future,what choices will we have maybe fr ,thor ,tiffin will be the last standing but that for the consumer may not be advantages in the future.

[Radio]

Pure guess here, but I bet the companies that are dying had way too much debt. If Mr. Buffett on you, your finances will be in order.

[NWJeeper]

Originally Posted by Radio

Pure guess here, but I bet the companies that are dying had way too much debt. If Mr. Buffett on you, your finances will be in order.

I think that is part of it the other part is building a good product and not trying to charge an arm and a leg for it compared to the others in the market that you compete against.

I really don't see anything much different in a Winnebago that justifies up to $30K more in price for the same size and floorplan. As for Country and Alfa well they are selling top price rigs to a relatively small portion of the RV buying market. There is only so much room for those types of manufacturers in the business.

[chaser1217]

i am convienced forest river makes a good product,thats one reason for them to stay afloat, plus they had great management prior to buffet,and now are able to withstand the storm thats happening now. i still don't believe these other companies like fleetwood, monaco,will be able to hold on with the info out there,that don't mean there bad just means cash crunch on them i hope they all make it thru but look at what forest river paid for coachmen, something less than 50 or so million, that company was worth ovet 100 million in the last 36 months. stick with forest river is the best bet

[cfsoistman]

Reasonably priced units and the available ammenities included set FR above the others. More bang for your buck so to speak. The days of charging big bucks for a reputation are behind us. The economy is going to take quite some time to recover and with the number of jobs being lost daily there is definitely fear in going into deep debt. I wish all of the manufacturers and their employees the best. Hopefully they have some type of plan of how to ride this out without reducing staff or closing their doors.