Jason Lippert on RV Market: ‘What Goes Down Must Come Up’ – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
ELKHART, Ind. – After an “eventful year while navigating a challenging environment,” Jason Lippert, president and CEO of LCI Components, said the RV market is starting to show some signs of life.
Lippert made his remarks in a conference call with investment analysts Tuesday following the company’s fourth quarter and full year 2023 results. At one point, Lippert and CFO Lillian Etzkorn said the first two months of 2024 were good and March looks to be even better, suggesting the industry could be looking at a rebound.
“If you look at March, we’re seeing RV OEMs increase some days production – which in some cases will be 20% for some of those – and others that are flat, and others that are just adding a few units a week to their production schedule,” Lippert said. “So, like we’ve said all along, we know that what goes down must come up. And it feels like we’re starting to come off the bottom, at least in March we’ll certainly see a little bit more volume in RV.”
In his prepared remarks, Lippert highlighted the company’s “diversification priorities and steadfast commitment to operational discipline” as well as its aftermarket growth that helped boost the bottom line. Lippert finished 2023 with $3.8 billion in revenue, declining year-over-year from last year’s $5.2 billion in revenues, due largely to lower RV going in and marine industry production levels as dealers work to right-size inventories in both markets, he said.
“As many of you know, we have significantly diversified Lippert beyond recreational vehicles into transportation vehicles, marine, automotive, residential, and their aftermarkets, as well as into Europe. And that effort is now paying dividends. In fact, over the past five years, we have successfully executed our strategic playbook by growing revenues in new markets by nearly 50%, which has bolstered our diversification,” Lippert said.
“In this quarter, that growth was underscored by the strength of our growing aftermarket businesses,” he continued, noting the company has “created a range of what we believe are countercyclical revenue streams with a combined $11 billion-plus in total addressable growth opportunity.”
“We’re working hard to continue to grow these opportunities, both organically and through acquisitions,” Lippert said, adding that the company has new business commitments for 2024 of approximately $200 million net of any business losses – of which $130 million will be RV, new market share, and content gains.
Lastly, Lippert was asked to characterize the current competitive landscape, and outline the company’s strategy within that climate.
“Like I said, I’ve been in this business since we started our first RV products. So, for 30 years I watched a lot of competitors come and go. I put them into a couple of different categories. Some we’ve beat and they’re gone. Some we’ve acquired and they’re part of our business now. And others are still around. We’re competing with them on a regular basis,” he said.
“I’d say, over the 30 years, what’s been consistent is not only that but the fact that, competition is just part of what we do. It’s part of the business. It’s part of any business,” Lippert continued.
“We’ve had new competitors almost every year in the last 30 years. So, I just keep pointing people to our track record. We won more battles than we’ve lost. We continue to use innovation to beat our competitors. We use our bundling and just our massive mode of products there to beat competitors,” he added.
