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Thor buys DRV


hone eagle

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Who's bigger now Thor or Forest River?

Forest River makes 1.6 billion annually, Thor about a tenth of that. What is important to understand is that companies making high end quality trailers, New Horizon, SpaceCraft, Continental Coach, etc., exist on annual incomes of between 5-10 million per year. So what's the point. Both Forest River and Thor manufacture few millions of dollars of high end trailers to satisfy their high end customers. Subtract that from 1.6 billion or 180 million and figure out how is the "balance" of their annual income made? I would venture to say, lots of luan plywood and Lippert parts. In big corporations with a span of products, from expensive to cheap, the preeminent question is? Does the quality migrate down, or the cheapness migrates up?

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Look up Grand Design trailers. The company literally exploded onto the scene with units catering to the "upper quality" crowd. In two years they moved into fourth position in these behind Thor, Forest River and Jayco. What is interesting that the three founders of Grand Design were highly placed executives at Thor prior to starting Grand Design. Apparently they felt "too constraint" when in Thor's fold.

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It was always my understanding that DRV was a privately held company not one controlled by share holders or an investment group. So if that is true, it would seem that this was not some kind of corporate take over but rather a decision by the owners to sell. Apparently Thor was the one that stepped up with enough cash to make an acceptable offer. No real way of knowing why or whether one of the other high end makers was interested and just couldn't meet the selling price. Perhaps the resurgence in the RV industry is not as robust as some predictions if the smaller companies can not afford to expand. Would it have been better for the owners to just shut the doors or maybe file for bankrupcy? I am guessing that this sale at least provides current owners that have a warranty continued coverage and an availability of parts. When Monaco went bankrupt before selling out we were left with NADA as far as guarantied support.

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When DRV left hydraulic slide outs, this was the factor that caused us to leave them. They went to a less costly system and raised prices. There are posted on various forums problems with DRVs that previously had not been there. Not bad mouthing DRV just believe this has been coming for a while.

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Well let me give you heads up on Quality LOL dam the tears in my eyes from laughing make it hard to type. I own a 2013 Elite Suite and for the money I paid it is a freaking JOKE. I am a inspector for the Oil and Gas Industry it is my job to pay attention. When I ordered it I informed them that I was in quality control and expected the best and they didn’t even come close to deliver it. My next one will be a Country Coach or a New Horizons.

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