Check out the latest RV-related news and events from this past week. This weekly series will feature only articles/videos of interest to the RV industry or RV community. Here’s what’s hot in the RV world this week:
1. Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. filed voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions March 10 in Riverside, Calif. for itself and certain operating subsidiaries. The filings do not include any of the company’s foreign or non-operating entities. “The vast majority of our suppliers and dealers should see no disruption in our business,” commented Elden L. Smith, Fleetwood’s president and chief executive officer. “We will continue to support our current and future product development and manufacturing.”
2. Take a Free Winnebago Factory Tour! Get an inside look at RV construction on a tour of the main facility at the Forest City headquarters of Winnebago Industries. Tours will be offered twice daily from April 6 through November 1. Each tour starts at the Winnebago Industries’ Visitors Center. The behind-the-scenes look into the building of an RV starts with a 20-minute video that offers a preview of the manufacturing process. Each tour lasts about an hour and a half.
3. If you use a Ford or Dodge pickup truck to haul your RV, be sure to read the latest pickup truck recalls. Chrysler has announced a recall of certain model year steering linkages, while Ford has recalled certain front wheel spindles.
4. Diesel-electric hybrid motors for recreational use may not be far in the distant future. Kenworth Truck Company announced it received its biggest truck fleet order from a Coca-Cola distributor that has studied the benefits of such technology for commercial use. The order is for 150 Kenworth T370 diesel-electric tractors and 35 Kenworth T370 hybrid trucks.
5. Happening Now! Check out these regional RV shows this weekend for great deals on new rigs and informative seminars and vendor booths.
3rd Annual Iowa RV & Travel Show, March 12-15 in Des Moines at the Iowa Events Center–HyVee Hall. Comparison shop for RVs side by side, or explore the vendor booths for RV accessories and vacation spots. Tickets are $8 for adults, $3 for kids ages 6-12, and children under 5 are free. Save time and money by getting discounted tickets online today!
5th Annual Virginia RV Show, March 13-15 in Hampton at the Hampton Roads Convention Center. Browse for accessories, campgrounds and RV resorts, maintenance and service plans, and much more. Tickets are $7 for adults, $2 for kids ages 6-12, and children under 5 are free. Save time and money by getting discounted tickets online today!
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Christina Bullock
If you want to get more advanced notice about regional RV shows, try checking the Events & Tours page from Good Sam Club. They provide a list of upcoming shows and gatherings through the end of the year!
The Affinity Events RV Show webpage has a schedule and more detailed information about the larger shows across the states. This might be more up your alley.
*An interesting side note: the industry has noticed an increase in attendance figures for RV shows across the board. This means that there’s still a strong interest in the RV lifestyle—which means there’s still a solid market for RV dealers and manufacturers. It’s not all doom and gloom out there! 🙂
Jerry Shea
Hi Bill,
Here is a “head up” for you. RV shows in spring time are geared for the “weekender and vactions folks” for the summer. Thus you will attend a RV show and find all these “tent pop-up trailers”, camper shells for a pickup, etc. Because of the “hard times” for the RV industry, the “big guys” or full timer coaches just don’t show up in the numbers like they did in the past at the small regional shows. Not only do the big motorhome manufactures not show up, many of the folks that sell “add ons” to complement you RV/motorhome don’t show up. “The times they are a changing” for the RV industry. If you are thinks of
going fulltime, just keep checking RV.net and all the other RV web sites and you will get more information than you will ever get at an RV show.
Bill Ross
If you want to provide a service by announcing upcoming shows please do so at least 30 days in advance or only those living closeby will benefit from your announcement. I live in N.E. Wisconsin and after attending 2 shows realized that I would have to travel out of state (maybe cross country) to see any quantity of DP Class A motorhomes.
Which shows (nationally) have sufficient quantities of DP Class A’s that will make it worth my while to pay airfare and a couple nights hotel?
My wife and I are recently retired and considering full or close to full RVing to see the country but I am finding really useful information about motorhomes very hard to come by. We need to kick the tires.