People often wonder “How big in an industry?” That is a very tricky question. In the RV world, you can look at NEW RV’s sold, used RV’s sold, aftermarket parts sold, service provided. Then do you count things like the parks? Do you count the economic activity related to an industry? Its a FUN question and there are societal trends that go far beyond ‘just business facts’ in that data.
You can find many interesting statistics on the RVIA website. I’m spending a little bit of time there and they have a Feb 2010 post that has some industry stats and predictions.
I thought I would pick out the simple one : How many units are expected to be sold in 2009 (results still coming in) and how many do people think will be sold in 2010.
How many do you think are sold in a year? What is the scale? Thousands? Ten Thousands? Millions?
Here you go and this is quoted from RVIA.org :
2009 shipments. RV shipments in November, 2009 were more than double the total shipped in the same month the previous year. On a seasonally-adjusted annual rate, November shipments reached 225,000 units, topping 200,000 units for the fourth consecutive month. Shipments reached their lowest point in the first quarter of 2009, but have improved steadily since then. Lower shipments in 2009 were caused by the longest and deepest U.S. recession since the 1930s, the tightest credit conditions in several decades, job losses, falling household wealth, slower growth in real incomes, and historically low consumer confidence. Shipments are projected to total 159,500 in 2009.
· 2010 projection. RV shipments are projected to total 203,500 units in 2010, a 27.6% increase from the projected 2009 total, according to RV industry analyst and director of consumer surveys at the University of Michigan Dr. Richard Curtin. Gains are expected as negative financial factors give way to improved market conditions.
