The Baird RV dealer survey conducted in partnership with RVDA suggests retail growth in the mid-30s percent range in August — similar to the July 2020 RV retail numbers reported by Statistical Surveys.
“A whole new set of first-time buyers seem to be in the market,” the Baird report said. “Folks that under other circumstances would never have been interested in the RV lifestyle. COVID changed all that!”
Dealer say a lack of inventory availability is hurting retail.
“Demand far outweighs current inventory availability,” the report said. “Lead generation is 30 percent greater with no budget increase. Sales could be up 40-50 percent if inventory and retail credit options were equivalent from 2019.”
Dealer inventory remains incredibly lean, with inventory comfort at record lows in the history of our survey. Every towable dealer surveyed responded that towable inventory was “too low,” and 80 percent of motorhome dealers reported that motorhome inventory was “too low.”
Sentiment on current conditions remains positive at 77, but declined from an all-time high of 91 in July. The 3-5 year outlook also remains positive at 69, but declined from 79 in July.
