For the second consecutive year, North American RV retail registrations set a record high, according to a report from market research firm Statistical Surveys Inc., as quoted in RV Executive Today, a monthly publication from the RV Dealers Association.
A total of 562,494 new RVs were bought by consumers and registered by U.S. states and Canadian provinces during 2021, breaking the previous record high of 518,823 units set in 2020.
The Statistical Surveys retail registration totals include retail sales of travel trailers, fifth wheels, folding campers, and Class A, B, and C motorhomes.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the record high for North American retail registrations was 492,277 units in 2018. During 2019, the most recent “normal” year prior to the pandemic, a total of 462,473 RVs were registered in the U.S. and Canada.
The RV retail market was extraordinarily strong during the second half of 2020 and the first half of 2021 but returned to a more normal pattern during the second half of 2021. This was indicated by the December 2021 results. There were 22,778 RVs registered in the U.S. and Canada during December 2021, which was less than the 28,087 units registered in December 2020, but more than the 18,730 units registered in December 2019.
North American retail registrations peaked at 68,356 units in May 2021 and declined seasonally the remainder of the year, to 41,275 units in September and 22,778 units last December. A new record for U.S.-only retail was also set in 2021, when American consumers registered 514,579 RVs with state vehicle licensing agencies. The previous record was 478,118 units in 2020. Before the pandemic, 443,291 retail units registered in 2018 was the record high. In 2019, American consumers registered 418,426 RVs.
Also quoting Statistical Surveys, RVDA noted that North American dealer inventories expanded by 32,944 units in 2021 but still have a long way to go to make up for inventory shrinkage occurring between 2018 and 2020.
Inventories expanded last year because 595,438 travel trailers, fifth wheels, folding campers, and Class A, B, and C motorhomes were shipped from the manufacturers to U.S.
and Canadian dealers, while 562,494 units were registered by retail buyers.
However, the expansion in 2021 made up for only a little more than one-third of the inventory shrinkage of 91,783 units that occurred in 2020. There were 427,040 units shipped from manufacturers to dealers in 2020, while 518,823 units were sold to retail buyers.
The manufacturers were able to ship 427,040 units in 2020 despite production being shut down for a month due to the pandemic. But 2020’s shipments total was still more than the 402,668 units shipped in 2019, the last “normal” year for the industry.
Dealer inventories also shrank by 59,805 units in 2019 and by 12,486 units in 2018. In total, North American RV dealer inventories shrank by 164,074 units from 2018 through 2020.
The 2021 inventory expansion began in January and February. In January, retail registrations totaled 32,189 units while factory-to-dealer deliveries amounted to 45,609 units.
February followed a similar pattern with 37,760 retail registrations and 48,034 units shipped. Then retail sales exceeded wholesale deliveries from March through July, with retail registrations peaking at 68,356 units, while 48,840 units were delivered from the factories to dealerships that month.
Wholesale shipments then exceeded retail registrations from August through December.
