Question Industry quality?

[CosmicCamper]

Is it generally accepted that the build quality has declined for all manufacturers during the pademic?

 

[Rd1]

The pandemic may have had some impact. However, generally, all the mergers, acquisitions, buyout, etc.. along with the general mind set of the executives running the industry has been inflicted with the less quality, more units, more profit pandemic, so long as the baby boomer stampede continues.. such is the unfortunate side of this finance driven so called economy!!!

welcome to roaring 20s, V2.0.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

I often wonder if the RV industry starting in the mid-west and mostly still operating from the mid-west presents a challenge.

As a born and raised mid-westerner, who works in the tech industry, I have seen the general thought differences in thought patterns between people who live in different areas.

The quote from Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain aptly captures the Midwest mindset, “when the end of the world comes, the best place to be is Cincinnati because everything happens there ten years later”. The Midwest likes stability and dislikes change. If it was good enough for Ma and Pa, it is good enough for me. (Remember I was born and raised in the Midwest so I am including myself in this thought process - not pointing fingers at others).

Does this stereotypical Midwest resistance to change impact the RV industry, with the RV industry being mostly focused in a small area of a Midwest state?

Where is the competition for a product with higher quality set of parts going to come from? Why does the automotive industry competition drive better quality in parts and finished product but not the RV industry?

How bad would a JD Powers initial quality report look if it were to add RV manufacturers to their list of auto manufacturers? We know they would be at the bottom, but being measured on the same scale, how bad would it make RV manufacturing look?

 

[Rosy]

I don't live in the Midwest but that doesn't sound bad to me. I'm not that sure about RVs but these days auto makers are falling all over each other to add "features" and complexity that reduce reliability in an effort to keep millennials and zoomers interested in buying vehicles. Or they're turbocharging everything to make it look better on the EPA's useless fuel economy tests so they can claim CAFE credits without improving real world fuel economy and again decreasing reliability.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Do you remember the Dodge MH? From an insiders point of view (not my own). The experiment was a bust because "reliability could not be achieved, leave it to companies like Winnebago ".

Just saying!

 

[Rosy]

Do you remember the Dodge MH? From an insiders point of view (not my own). The experiment was a bust because "reliability could not be achieved, leave it to companies like Winnebago ".

Just saying!

From Dodge? I'm shocked...

 

[Kevin D Pem]

From Dodge? I'm shocked...

Don't follow your statement.

 

[Rosy]

Don't follow your statement.

They haven't exactly been known for reliability since the late 80s or early 90s.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

They haven't exactly been known for reliability since the late 80s or early 90s.

Could be said about the big 4

 

[Rd1]

......
Does this stereotypical Midwest resistance to change impact the RV industry,....

I don't know if this is a midwest thing.. the buck stops with the executives. They set the pace.. There were some RVs with general quality, maybe not perfect, but some would be considered having measurable quality. Holiday Rmabler used to be relatively quality, again not perfect. Same with Country Coach, they were not perfect, but above the rest. Newmar founder, Mahlon, who actually worked for HR when it was family owned, also brought about inovations and relative quality when he founded Newmar in the mid 80s(?). The next generation Newmar ownership dropped the ball and eventually cashed in by selling to winnie. Of course, if you can appreciate the relationship between warranty work and the excess depreciation of an RV, then it will all add up!

..but, thats only one side of the coin, the other side R Us... Unless the owners/concumers are willing to raise these issues with the man in charge, not much will ever change..

 

[Kevin D Pem]

..but, thats only one side of the coin, the other side R Us... Unless the owners/concumers are willing to raise these issues with the man in charge, not much will ever change...

So what you are saying is when we quit buying junk junk will go away!

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Just a point! When I decided to only buy products that were designed to last, that didn't change what I found on the shelves at the time store, only what I considered.

 

[CosmicCamper]

I wonder if there are customer satisfaction numbers available for 2020 on?

 

[tdkkart]

Is it generally accepted that the build quality has declined for all manufacturers during the pademic?

Build quality, or overall cheapening of the design and materials?? There's a difference. You can do a good job of folding the pizza box as designed, or you can do a bad job of folding the same design box. The problem comes in when you take away the corrugated cardboard and try to build the same box with notebook paper. No matter how good you are at folding it, it ain't gonna work. It might LOOK the same, but it's still garbage.

* I use "pizza box" mainly due to the the crap that I have seen just in the last few weeks at local RV shows, most of which seem to be built much like a pizza box, in both materials and design. Some of them are being folded better than others, but their all the same crap. I haven't really been inside an RV for MANY years, but SWMBO and I have been discussing retirement RVing lately so we've been out looking around. I'm beginning to seriously question whether or not we even want to go down this road,

 

[CosmicCamper]

Build quality, or overall cheapening of the design and materials?? There's a difference. You can do a good job of folding the pizza box as designed, or you can do a bad job of folding the same design box. The problem comes in when you take away the corrugated cardboard and try to build the same box with notebook paper. No matter how good you are at folding it, it ain't gonna work. It might LOOK the same, but it's still garbage.

* I use "pizza box" mainly due to the the crap that I have seen just in the last few weeks at local RV shows, most of which seem to be built much like a pizza box, in both materials and design. Some of them are being folded better than others, but their all the same crap. I haven't really been inside an RV for MANY years, but SWMBO and I have been discussing retirement RVing lately so we've been out looking around. I'm beginning to seriously question whether or not we even want to go down this road,

This is the exact situation my wife and I are in. We want to buy a class A and full time travel the country. My concern would be getting a piece of crap that would leaves constantly working on little fixes, putting it in a shop, or broken down. I really like the Thor Outlaw class A toy hauler but have heard some horror stories about Thors quality.