From Deseret News archives:
On the move
Low interest rates, leisure time drive soaring RV sales
- Page:
- < Previous
- 1
- 2
Coachmen, which employs nearly 4,500 workers, forecast last month that its 2004 sales would rise as much as 12 percent from last year, with earnings expected to nearly double.
In northern Indiana, sales of RVs and travel trailers have helped offset severe job losses in other segments of heavy manufacturing. Industry figures show about 58 percent of all the nation's RVs are produced in Indiana. More than 100 different brands of RVs are produced within 25 miles of Elkhart, which bills itself as "RV Capital of the World."
Amid overall manufacturing job declines, Indiana RV makers like Coachmen, Gulf Stream Coach and Monaco Coach have been hiring workers, with Coachmen adding a new 300-employee plant last year in Middlebury.
Statewide, employment at plants manufacturing RVs, travel trailers and campers grew 26 percent from 17,200 in January 2002 to 21,700 in December of last year, according to state data.
Since the first RV models appeared in the 1930s, RV sales have typically surged months ahead of recoveries in the national economy, and RV sales declines have preceded recessions, industry officials say.
"I don't see references to this kind of future opportunity until you go back to coming out of the astronomical interest rates and fuel shortages of the 1970s," said Al Hesselbart, a historian at an RV museum in Elkhart who writes for industry trade journals. "I think the growth the industry is projecting the next year or so is every bit as good as what it was in the early 1980s."
- Page:
- < Previous
- 1
- 2
Comments
- Changes to mental disorder manual? 10:04 p.m.
- Hoyas rally to down Friars 10:02 p.m.
- Dems seek backing on jobs pkg 9:48 p.m.
- GOP warned on blocked nominations 9:48 p.m.
- Job openings down 9:47 p.m.
- Photo: Hearts and helpers 9:44 p.m.
- Trucking company donates to U. 9:43 p.m.
- Penguin exhibit delayed 9:42 p.m.
- Schlesinger: Cohesion key for U.S. 9:35 p.m.
- Proposal to skip 12th grade now a bill 9:33 p.m.
- High school players commit to BYU
- Utah Jazz Ironmen
- LDS veggie program helps Bolivians
- Teacher merit pay debated
- 15-month-old Rachel Toone dies
- SLC's City Creek moves ahead
- Utahn's 'Caveman Diet' catching on
- MWC race shaping 'Survivor' style
- Kaman, not Boozer, on All-Star team
- Cougars hope for fast rebound
- Teacher merit pay debated
191 - UNLV bombs BYU into loss
185 - Countering attacks on LDS scholarship
160 - Why do they hate us? Try asking
155 - Letters: Tea Party hypocrites
119 - White House mocks Sarah Palin
94 - Rally in opposition to benefit cuts
90 - High school players commit to BYU
86 - Let's talk college hoops
78 - BYU's prime postseason position?
77
byu fans 6:47 p.m. Because BYU does not play on Sunday. That causes...
encircle you with love and comfort and peace and hope. I cannot imagine what...
Eliminating 12th grade is Bad Deal in my opinion. Actuallt that was one of...
Wow, the Legislature finally listened.
This will just put a bigger burden on Higher Education. Bad Idea Buttars
Look what Davis did to Fremont tonight!
Some good comments this evening.
Millard is amazing. But it is a great accomplishment to just make it to...
Well looks like valley and piute won.
Can anybody cite a scholar knowledgeable about Mormonism that is not biased?...




You can be the first to comment on this story.