RV Shipments Rise 30 Percent in September
The RV industry has been soaring through the COVID-19 pandemic and shows no signs of slowing down, with shipments rising more than 30 percent in September.
According to a study by the RV Industry Association, a total of 41,509 RVs were shipped last month; nearly 10,000 more than had been shipped in September of last year.
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“The demand for RVs continues to be strong heading into the fall and the industry is on track to surpass last year’s numbers, despite the six to eight-week closures earlier this spring,” said Craig Kirby, president of the RVIA.
“Between the growing trend to work and learn from your RV and the incredible fall and winter RV travel options, we do not see the demand for RVs going down anytime soon.”
The vast majority of the RVs shipped were towables, particularly travel trailers, which are up 35.3 percent from last year. Fifth wheels, camper vans, pop-up trailers, and other towable RVs were all up as well. Motorhomes, on the other hand, were down exactly one percent, representing less than a tenth of September’s total shipments.
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RV shipments have been booming ever since states lifted stay-at-home orders, with RV rental companies and manufacturers seeing a sharp increase in demand. Additionally, Americans are taking more camping trips than ever, with many campgrounds around the country experiencing record levels of activity and bookings.
Though total RV shipments have exceeded the 300,000 mark so far in 2020, they are still down 3.2 percent year-to-date compared to 2019. However, if current trends hold, the deficits from March, April, and May will have been more than made up by the end of 2020.
Kurt Verlin was born in France and lives in the United States. Throughout his life he was always told French was the language of romance, but it was English he fell in love with. He likes cats, music, cars, 30 Rock, Formula 1, and pretending to be a race car driver in simulators; but most of all, he just likes to write about it all. See more articles by Kurt.