NIRVC’s Music City Motorhome Expo to be ‘Revolutionary’ – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
The excitement is building for the inaugural Music City Motorhome Expo, which is set for June 4-7 at the Wilson County Fair Grounds in Lebanon, Tenn., a suburb of Nashville.
Hosted by the National Indoor RV Centers (NIRVC) – the dealership’s store in Lebanon, Tenn., is just four miles from the Expo – the all-inclusive event is being billed as a VIP Shopping Experience where interested buyers can get an exclusive preview of 2025 Class A, C and B gas and diesel motorhomes. Attendees will have opportunities to talk face-to-face with product designers and engineers, and a chance to even take display units on a test drive.
“I’ve attended a lot of shows and rallies in my career, and I don’t want to name names, but that is not the shopping experience I would want if I’m getting ready to stroke a half-a-million-dollar check,” said NIRVC President Brett Davis.
Make no mistake, this event will be unlike anything the industry has even seen before.
For starters, attendees are paying $1,495 for a pair of admission tickets. That price includes everything including three nights and four days of camping, education seminars, evening happy hours, dinners, entertainment and more. For attendees who do not have a motorhome, admission is $500 per person, Davis noted.
As mentioned, attendees also will have the opportunity to review and test drive – 2025 model year motorhomes from such brands as American Coach, Entegra Coach, Fleetwood RV, Holiday Rambler, Newmar and Winnebago. There will also be Class B and Class C motorhomes from brands like American Coach, Entegra, Grech RV, Pleasure Way and Winnebago.
Plus, if they should go on and purchase a motorhome from NIRVC, their admission is refunded.
It is, after all, an “all-inclusive VIP Shopping Experience.”
“I can’t speak industry-wide, but for us, our average sales price is over a half a million dollars,” Davis told RVBusiness. “When you’re spending that kind of money, you don’t want to have to stand in a long line just to get inside of a coach, tripping over, making your way around dog leashes and baby strollers. You want to be able to sit inside a unit with your wife and sit inside several units, determine what floorplans you like, what colors you like, and so forth.”
The opportunity to take display units on a test drive is another unique benefit for attendees, Davis added. That’s part of the reason why the display units will be arranged in a U-shaped layout – which might be considered unorthodox, at least compared to more traditional shows where units are stacked on top of each other like a parking lot. However, the layout is intended to make it easier for attendees and manufacturer representatives to take a display unit out for a test drive.
“If you’re a real buyer, you will have access and the ability to do anything and everything that you would want to do before making that decision,” Davis explained. “And yes, while you’re there, we’ll feed you three times a day with nice meals. And then, obviously, I’d call it private concerts because with that few folks in attendance.”
In addition to OEMs, major component manufacturers, like Allison, AquaHot, Cummins, Equalizer, Firefly, Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp., Girard, HWH, Koni Shocks, Lithionics, Michelin, Oasis, Silver Leaf and Valid, also are expected.
“You’ll have all the major component suppliers there. You’ll have all the product developers and engineers there from the manufacturers there, so you’ll be able to have one-on-one Q&As with them,” Davis said. “There will be daily seminars. It’s the show where the manufacturers have all agreed to introduce the new model year, each year.”
He noted that OEMs are not being charged to bring units to the Expo. That, coupled with the pre-qualified, serious buyers who will be in attendance, made it an easy decision for OEMs, Davis said.
“The requirements were: No. 1, this is where they’d introduce the new models every year. No. 2: they would bring product engineers, product developers – the people that coach buyers really want to talk to, not salespeople. No. 3, they would bring their nice displays that they take to all the other shows,” Davis explained.
One other item worth mentioning is that, especially for this inaugural Expo, admission is being capped so attendees won’t have to fight crowds for an unencumbered personal shopping experience. This year, there will be about 300 attendees, which is roughly two people per the 150 or so display units that are expected.
“Nobody wants to pay $1,500 and come be a part of a massive crowd when they’re serious about buying,” Davis said. “And I can assure you, they’re going to want to buy. They’re going to want to drive an Entegra, a Newmar, a Tiffin. They’re going to want to compare and shop, and they can do that here because it’s not crowded.”
The entertainment is going to be another highlight, Davis added. Musical acts include Josh Turner, Diamond Rio and The Smoking Section, the last of which is musicians from other bands who’ve come together as a “super group” of sorts.
“All six members play or sing in other existing, well-known bands. This is just six artists moonlighting, and that could be a very cool concert,” Davis noted.
For his part, NIRVC Chief Operating Officer Bill Reith wanted to acknowledge the industry’s support for this first-ever Expo.
“There’s been tremendous collaboration from all the manufacturers,” he said. “What’s awesome is Nashville’s centrally located so that we’re within five hours of all the manufacturers, so we receive great collaboration with them. And, furthermore, some of them have tailored their product introduction timelines to match up with this show so that all the customers are able to see all new product from all the premium manufacturers.”
