|
|
|
Fleetwood
reduce
travel
trailer
manufacturing
capacity
|
|
|
Fleetwood
announced
on
May
3,
2007,
preliminary
sales
for
its
fourth
quarter
and
fiscal
year
ended
April
29,
2007
You
can
read
the
full
press
release
here,
but
the
following
are
some
key
aspects
of
their
announcement
of
travel
trailer
plant
closures:
-
The
12
percent
decline
in
the
fourth
quarter
recreational
vehicle
sales
reflects
difficult
market
conditions
that
particularly
impacted
both
travel
trailers
and
folding
trailers.
Travel
trailer
revenues
fell
49
percent
to
$81
million,
or
by
35
percent
excluding
last
year's
FEMA
sales
of
$33
million.
Folding
trailer
revenues
were
down
by
13
percent
to
$20
million.
Backlogs
for
both
towable
divisions
continue
to
be
down
significantly
from
last
year
-
"The
beginning
of
the
spring
selling
season
in
the
RV
industry
has
been
softer
than
we
had
expected,"
said
Elden
Smith,
Fleetwood's
president
and
chief
executive
officer
-
"The
fourth-quarter
decline
in
our
folding
trailer
sales
was
also
slightly
better
than
industry
shipment
trends,
but
the
reverse
is
true
in
travel
trailers,"
Smith
continued
-
"We
have
taken
additional
steps
to
reduce
our
travel
trailer
manufacturing
capacity.
Yesterday,
we
notified
our
associates
of
the
impending
closure
of
our
Canadian
travel
trailer
manufacturing
facility
in
Lindsay,
Ontario,
and
the
immediate
closure
of
our
facility
in
Campbellsville,
Kentucky"
-
"Previous
moves
to
rationalize
production
allow
us
to
produce
a
simplified
array
of
products
in
our
remaining
five
plants,
with
each
specializing
in
a
specific
market
segment.
We
are
also
producing
fewer
floor
plans,
which
will
further
improve
efficiencies
and
reduce
costs.
These
actions
will
put
additional
short-term
pressure
on
our
national
market
share,
but
we
believe
that
this
manufacturing
footprint
will
enable
us
to
compete
more
effectively
in
important
geographic
and
market
segments."
Latest
RVing
news
headlines
What
do
you
think?
Add
your
comments
below
...
|
Readers
comments:
John
:
As an owner of a Fleetwood Ultra Lite Lynx 725 I was totally surprised when I phoned the support line just recently to find a dealer that would still work on their units and was basically told that there were basically NO support dealers close to me anymore because of their closing of the Canadian operations. This is disheartening for me as I now feel that I've been abandoned with an RV that is only 3 years old! What happened to my so-called long lasting roof warranty and so called dealer network across the country??
Fleetwood Associate
:
You people are fools. Fleetwood is moving their shops to Mexico, they already have one there and OH BIG SUPRISE they close down 5 in the U.S. to save cost, they are putting their foot in the door to go outside the country while not having to pay huge oversea shipping cost which would be idiotic. Fleetwood is in a bind and going down like a rock.
John Boy
:
Maybe Fleetwood will learn from this and resume making a quality product. We had an Advantage for three troublesome years and finally traded it for a Montana. The people in Longview were never helpful in resolving quality issues and the dealer dropped the Fleetwood line.
Ken Crabtree
:
The reason Fleetwoods sales are down is because of poor quality and service. They do not have much repeat business.
Ron Morris
:
I agree I have had 2 Fleetwoods and I've loved them both. I think they make a wonderful RV and am also saddened that they are closing plants.
Happyfleetwoodowner
:
As a owner of a Canadian Built trailer i am very sad to read this. I am very proud of my Fleetwood Wilderness/Weekender bult here in Ontario. To boot the people of Linsy always get the dirty end of the stick. They're always losing much needed jobs. Not "fair to them" . Why don't thay make some scaled down models in Linsy. My trailer is a base ecno model they should for this year make only the ecno mod's & get more people into them, then they up grade. Im impressed with the fit & finish with my ecno/wilderness CK180 mod. have had it only a year so far and love it. I live in Toronto, & I hope thay don't close the plant here in Ontario, Scale down on mods being bult (fewer floor plans)/make ecno trailers/or make parts to ship ot other plants. I got my trailer at the 2006 spring trailer show. (a show specal). When i go camping i always have people ask me about my trailer,& when they hear the price thay want one , thay want to get rid of there older model. I know that I have sold some fleetwood show specals just by telling people about my trailer. (and didn't even get paid for it!) I dont want anything for it. I just beleve in Fleetwood. For there price fit & finish. A happy but sadened Fleetwood owner.
|
|
|
|
|
See
what
people
say
about
Fleetwood
RVs |
|
|
|
Other
RoTi
news
items
about
this
company
or
subject:
| Fleetwood sales down 11%
|
7/12/2007
|
| Fourth quarter fiscal 2007 results, sales down but "We have created a more cost-efficient structure" and gaining market share
|
| Fleetwood sales down
|
5/3/2007
|
| Spring selling season "softer than expected" - 4th quarter fiscal 2007 preliminary results
|
| Fleetwood - the price is right
|
4/2/2007
|
| For the 20th year contestants on the daytime game show 'The Price is Right!' will compete for Fleetwood RVs ..
|
| RoTi reviews of new RVs
|
section
|
| There is at least one new RV review in the new RV review section for the term you searched.
|
| Fleetwood reports loss
|
3/8/2007
|
| Travel trailer sales "disappointing", motorhome sales up - 3rd quarter fiscal 2007 results
|
| Fleetwood RV sales
|
2/1/2007
|
| Fleetwood RV sales in general down, but motorhome sales up - latest results
|
| Founder of Fleetwood dies
|
1/12/2007
|
| John Crean, founder of Fleetwood Enterprises, died Thursday January 11th 2007 at the age of 81.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[../consumer/newrvs/include.htm]
|
|
|
See
also:
RV
Business
Blog
Selling
an
RV
Buying
an
RV
RV
Consumer
Reports
and
new
vehicle
reviews
|
