Fleetwood sell off buy up?

[benthere]

Fleetwood is talking about focusing on the Motorhome end of the industry and has indicated the towable division is up for sale. They bought Coleman trailers and then got in trouble for using the coleman name in advertizing without authoization and now have a law suite pendining. They need more manufacturing capibilities for big rigs, and have indicated consolidation of two sights into one on the west coast. Are they looking at the now idle but all ready National RV factory in Perris CA.? Fleetwoods factory just up the road in Riverside Ca. is having CAOSHA problems with the permits for their painting operation. The Idle National site a few miles south has permits and could be an answer for them. National RV filed a Chapter 11 bankrupcy which allows the factory to remain open (although it's idle now) during court procedings. The court has to review all the claims against National, and then coclude how to pay outstanding bills, and what to do with the remaining assets. They could allow anyone to operate the site in Perris as this would generate revenue to pay outstanding claims against National. Fleetwood could also buy the entire National brand, which would help them expand the Class A end of their business. Mean while who might buy the Towables from Fleetwood is under speculation aslo. Fleetwood indicated that the smaller Mercedes based Class C are in high demand and the chassis are in low supply.

[beachhouse4]

Everytime a company decides to deal with big rigs only and cannot provide what the public demand is, in different pricing levels they end up in the toilet most people cannot afford $250,000 and the ones that can will not keep the company afloat. And with fuel prices like they are it will not help matters.

[benthere]

The reason they want to sell off towables is the competition is to great, and the profit margin is low. The big rigs profit margin is 37%. That's right, they build them for much less than buyers think, that's why they are discounted 25% by dealers. They will make even more profit as they buy out the competition. The future of towables is also in question as many people won't be driving big trucks that get bad MPG's. Remember there is not a car out there that can tow a trailer anymore,(unless it's a pop up).