The Baird RV dealer survey conducted in partnership with the RV Dealers Association suggests retail growth in the mid-30 percent range in August – similar to the July 2020 RV retail numbers reported by Statistical Surveys. As a comment issued with the results noted, “A whole new set of first-time buyers seem to be in the market. Folks that under other circumstances would never have been interested in the RV lifestyle. COVID changed all that.”
Dealers say a lack of inventory availability is hurting retail. “Demand far outweighs current inventory availability. Lead generation is 30 percent greater with no budget increase. Sales could be up 40-50 percent if inventory and retail credit options were equivalent from 2019.”
Dealer inventory remains incredibly lean, with inventory comfort at record lows in the history of the survey. Every towable dealer surveyed responded that towable inventory was “too low” and 80 percent of motorhome dealers reported that motorhome inventory was “too low.”
Sentiment on current conditions remains positive at 77 but declined from an all-time high of 91 in July. The three-to-five-year outlook also remains positive at 69 but declined from 79 in July.
Just last week the RVDA had announced that in order to deliver more timely data, its partner, Baird, would begin conducting dealer surveys monthly rather than its lengthier quarterly survey.
