Retail registrations for RVs in August 2021 were recorded at 45,188. This is down 24.87 percent, or nearly 15,000 units, in comparison to the 60,146 units registered for August of 2020 as per the Statistical Surveys Inc. (SSI).
After having seen twelve months of record-setting numbers every month, it is now the third consecutive month where retail sales have witnessed a decrease year-over-year. The 53,985 registered retail transactions for July 2021 rank as the second-highest July in history and is just behind the 72,278 units recorded for July 2020.
In the same way, the 63,246 retail registrations for June 2021 are the second-best June ever, behind only the total of 70,780 that was recorded in June last year.
August 2021 was the fifth best-ever for its month.
The year-to-date is ahead of 2020. 434,668 registrations were recorded from August of 2021. That’s a 17.7 percent increase over 369,195 units recorded during the same time frame a year prior.
In the category of travel trailers, there were 27,196 retail registrations for August 2021. This is a decrease of 28 percent from the 37,774 vehicles that were reported in August last year. The market share top three players included THOR Industries, Inc. (40.4 percent), Forest River Inc. (36.4 percent), along with Grand Design RV Co. (8.8 percent).
The category for fifth-wheels experienced a 7.9 percentage decrease year-over-year in the market, ranging from 9,097 units in the month of August 2020 to 8,382 units by August 2021. THOR is the market leader in the fifth-wheel category with 45.3 percent and was being followed by Forest River (28.4 percent) and Grand Design (18.4 percent).
With a 44.6 percentage decrease, the number of camper trailers (pop-ups) decreased from 1,038 units in the month of August 2020, to 575 in the same month this year. The top market share players included Forest River (64 percent), Aliner (14.4 percent), and Purple Line LLC (6.8 percent).
In the category of park-model RVs, there were 181 retail registrations in August of this year, compared to 259 registrations in the same period in 2020, which is a 30.1 percent reduction. Skyline Champion topped the category with 30.9 percent, then followed by Cavco Industries (18.2 percent) along with Kropf Manufacturing (14.4 percent).
Class A motorhomes saw a 39.2 percent decline year-over-year in August, ranging from 1,841 in the previous year, to 1,119 in the current year. The market share leaders were THOR (46.6 percent), Newmar Corp. (16.4 percent), along with Forest River (15.1 percent).
The Class C group also reported a 37.9 percent drop for the same time frame which was 1,836 registrations in August 2021 compared to 2,955 registered last year’s August. With 55.4 percent of the market share, THOR led the category and was being followed by Forest River (21.6 percent) and Winnebago Motorized (8.7 percent).
August is the first time this year that the Class B segment experienced an annual decrease of 2.3% within the United States. There were 885 retail registrations this August, compared to August 2021’s 906. Winnebago was the top of the line with the highest share of 46.3 percent. It was followed by THOR (31.4 percent) as well as Forest River (6.8 percent).
SSI is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The company provides retail market and consumer statistics for the RV industry.
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