July Shipments are in from the RVIA.Org web site and it is bad news.

As always let me start by saying that they are comparing their “growth rate”, only to 2024, which wasn’t a great year.  So, if this month is bad news, well it’s really bad news.

Right now, in the towable shipments for the year, they are at 191,727 Units Shipped.  If you remember last month, they had shipped 172,401 for the year. That’s only an increase of 19,326 units added to the year’s total.  That’s somewhat bleak when comparing to previous months where they are usually adding around 25,000.

On with the July numbers:

In July Travel Trailer Shipments were down -12.9% over July of 2024. I have to say I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that before.  YTD compared to 2024 Travel Trailers are up only 2.5%.

July Fifth Wheels were up 9.1% over July of 2024, that’s a 10% drop from last months numbers. YTD compared to 2024 up 20.5, which is down -2% from last month’s numbers.

Pop-up Campers were down 18.9% but remember last month they reported a huge 42.7% over June of 2024.  So this may just be a correction. YTD compared to 2024 they are down -3.1%. 

Truck Campers were up 16.2% over July of 2024. YTD compared to 2024 up 20.9%.

Please remember that the number of shipments for popups and truck campers is so small that a small increase can look like a huge percentage. 

I won’t spend a lot of time talking about Motorhomes but only A’s and C’s were all up when compared to July of 2024.  Type A’s up 7.4%, B’s down -1.9%, and type C’s up 25.5%. However, for the year, A’s and B’s are in negative territory and C’s are barely positive at 1.1%

Again, the motorhome situation is a bit like truck campers and popups. There are not a lot shipped so a modest swing results in a big percentage shift. However, that being said, no one will deny that motorhomes are in trouble.

I think the RV industry is hurting. I think they’ve hurt themselves, and only they can turn it around. It will take a “Quality Revolution” to right this ship.

RV Industry Association President & CEO Craig Kirby said:

“Our latest research shows RVing will remain popular as we head into fall with affordability topping the list of reasons people plan to go on an RV adventure”.

I suppose it all depends on how you define affordability.  Tell that to the folks that are buying new RVs and then sinking a lot of money into them because of frame failure and poor workmanship.  Tell that to the folks that realize now that they made a huge mistake buying a unit without an independent inspection, and now their trailer is either sitting for months at a dealership while they pay on a loan and miss camping trips.  Just saying.