Day 2 Slideshow Highlights from 2023 Elkhart Open House – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News

[embedded content]

Hampered only by an afternoon rainstorm – which sent people scurrying for shelter under awnings or inside RVs or nearby buildings – the 2023 Elkhart RV Open House continued Tuesday as manufacturers, dealers and suppliers gathered in northern Indiana for the North American RV industry’s single largest trade-only event.

Kevin McArt, who is a general manager at Forest River overseeing the Surveyor, Ibex, No Boundaries and R-Pod brands, compared the market conditions of 2023 with that back in 2008. While he noted there certainly are some stark differences between the two time periods, the fact is both times Open House has reinforced the notion that the RV industry is indeed driven by relationships.

“This started all the way back in 2008, and this is now our 14th annual Dealer Expo. We skipped a couple of years – 2020 and 2021 – but it’s no different today than it was back then,” said McArt. “In ‘08 and ‘09, we decided to hold an event where, quite honestly, we brought dealers in not to garnish business, but to show them, ‘Hey look, we’re here for you and we appreciate your business’ and build on those relationships. And here we are today, the 14th annual, where it’s very much the same.”

McArt, who also is in his first term as the chairman of the RV Industry Association (RVIA), emphasized the economic conditions of the “Great Recession” in 2008-09 are decidedly different than today’s soft market in which the industry is challenged with a 50% drop in wholesale shipments and 20% decrease in retail sales. Yet, he said, the Dealer Expo offers an opportunity for Forest River – among others – that they value their dealer partners and, together, they can “weather the storm.”

Certainly, he added, Forest River and other OEMs will showcase new model year product and conduct business, but the opportunity to nurture those ever-so-important relationships cannot be overstated.

“There’s people I’ll see this week that I first got to know years ago back when I was a brand rep and I sold them product,” McArt said. “I might be in a different position today and they may not be buying a product that I manufacture or produce, but they make it a point to come by and say hello and talk about the memories we have. So, yeah, it’s a good feeling.”

Circling back to the topic of today’s soft market, McArt was confident the industry will emerge from the current climate sooner rather than later.

“From my perspective, I’m very bullish on the future of our industry. We’ve seen the average age of first-time buyers drop below 35, and 72 million Americans were planning on an RV trip this year,” McArt said. “So, the interest in our lifestyle is ever growing and the future looks bright.”

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/day-2-slideshow-highlights-from-2023-elkhart-open-house/