| The Recreational
Vehicle Industry Association reported wholesale shipments of 31,400
units in April, down 8.5% from the same period in 2007. Motorhomes sales
continue to be the hardest hit, down more than a third from 2007 and
down for the second consecutive year. Motorhome shipments have been
hardest hit because of tightening debt (story)
and fuel prices that continue to climb and have broken the $4 per gallon
mark. In what may be the only good news in the numbers, shipments have
increased sequentially since last November.
According to the RVIA and Dr. Richard
Curtin, Director of Consumer Surveys at the University of Michigan, RV
shipments will again decline in 2008 due to higher credit standards,
falling household wealth, slower growth in real incomes, and diminished
consumer confidence. Shipments in 2008 are still expected to be the
eighth highest in the past 25 years, totaling approximately 305,000
units. That represents a 13.6% decrease over 2007. Year to date, the
actual wholesale shipments are down 11.8% compared with the same period
in 2007.
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