Thor Buys Jayco

[tshirtman]

I saw something on one of the forums yesterday that Jayco sold out to Thor for $500+++million$$$
Hope it was a late April fools joke
Not good for future Jayco owners and current owners that have warranty and parts needs,,

Sounds like the RV industry is going to be just a few brands pretty soon

[Jagiven]

Sadly, its true! I think the number I heard was Thor now owns about 83% of the RV manufacturing market. To me that sounds a lot like a monopoly.

[Camp Winican]

Thor acquires Jayco in $576 million deal | Business | southbendtribune.com

[Donedroolin]

Wow its all about the money. Thor aren't they a reputable company

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by Jagiven

Sadly, its true! I think the number I heard was Thor now owns about 83% of the RV manufacturing market. To me that sounds a lot like a monopoly.

Thor and Berkshire Hathaway (Buffet) own 83%.

[DocBrown]

On the flip side Thor's MO is to leave existing management in place and not get too involved on how things are done at their acquisitions. Thor owns AirStream so that says something. Time will tell though.

[Tone]

Yikes. That is scary.

[bankr63]

Originally Posted by Tone

Yikes. That is scary.

Not really.

It would be scary if a hedge fund or similar investment outfit bought them and carved them up. Thor is a large operating entity in the industry and will want the line to remain competitive to generate revenue (return on shareholder investment).
Having been through a few corporate mergers over the years, I would say that the recent apparent increase in quality issues at Jayco "may" have been directly related to the sale. Many companies that want to find a buyer concentrate heavily on the bottom line to make the company value look good and maximize price. Once the sale is made, quality often returns to normal.
Thor has some innovative ways of incenting employees for reducing defects; this plan might play very well at Jayco (employee bonuses are negatively affected by defect rates).
Over time some model lines across Thor will probably come and go and merge. We saw this kind of rationalization within Jayco over time (common StarCraft/Jayco models, changes to the Feather/Ultralight lines, etc); that will no doubt continue under Thor. I'm not gonna lose sleep over it. And if it does become an issue, I'll just buy my next trailer from Warren Buffet, or find a decent independent (the "other" 17%).

[TWP723]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

Thor and Berkshire Hathaway (Buffet) own 83%.

Yep..Forest River is a Berkshire Hathaway Co.

[Rootus]

Originally Posted by DocBrown

Thor owns AirStream so that says something.

And Keystone.

[tshirtman]

Famous Accusation!
Usually a looser

[Crabman]

Borrowed this from another thread. It seems to contain some of the concerns listed in this thread, and more.

RV Death Spiral: Manufacturers in race to the bottom | RV Daily Report

[Larry G.]

Originally Posted by tshirtman

Not good for future Jayco owners and current owners that have warranty and parts needs,,
(

Why is that?

It's not like Jayco won't be around...they were just bought out by a bigger company.

[homer1959]

So we are buying junk, and junk for junk dont worry, its the same junk with a different name on the sticker,take the name off a Jayco and most of the time you wont be able to tell the difference . The link provided by Crabman is explaining clearly that this industry is sick, very sick ...so dont worry be happy and keep your old rig , let them storing their junk till they rot on their lot.:-) I know I will.

Originally Posted by Crabman

Borrowed this from another thread. It seems to contain some of the concerns listed in this thread, and more.

RV Death Spiral: Manufacturers in race to the bottom | RV Daily Report

[Stingray75]

This shouldn't necessarily be scary or bad news for consumers. What if a corporate quality management / continuous improvement system developed that focused not only on internal process capability, but also supply chain reliability? Individually, they're all buying from the same sub-suppliers and likely have different discount pricing structures. Quality and reliability issues take on a different sense of urgency when your customer accounts for 47% of your business and, if you fail to deliver what's needed, that customer has the resources to develop the sub-suppliers competitor or internalize production of sub-components. LCI might be the concerned folks in all this change.

[Larry G.]

Originally Posted by homer1959

So we are buying junk, and junk for junk dont worry, its the same junk with a different name on the sticker,take the name off a Jayco and most of the time you wont be able to tell the difference . The link provided by Crabman is explaining clearly that this industry is sick, very sick ...so dont worry be happy and keep your old rig , let them storing their junk till they rot on their lot.:-) I know I will.

One of the worst posts I've seen in the Forums.

Do you feel better now after your rant?

[BigJohnD]

Not endorsing what he said, but unfortunately, it's getting to be true. Take the decals off, and you pretty much got the same thing. Thor, or Forest River. I really hope nothing changes, but I feel IN TIME, we will see a change with the Jayco brand. It happens to the best of them.

[homer1959]

Originally Posted by Larry G.

One of the worst posts I've seen in the Forums.

Do you feel better now after your rant?

Rant ? What rant, sharing a point of view about an article written by an RV authority is ranting ? You are overly sensitive mon ami .

What do you want me to say, that we live in a world full of unicorn and rainbow ?

If you feel that you buy a quality product at a good price , and that the service is up to the promises, good for you , but in the real world, we are buying overpriced junk.

The after service sucks most of the time, it takes forever to get the parts...getting a repair done in a timely manner is almost impossible and it seems to me that an RV technician if often a Jack of all trade trying his best to covers the junk shipped by all manufacturer to his facility.

The price paid is not even the guaranty that you are buying a quality product, pusher at 500k or travel trailer / pop up trailer is at the end built with the same poor workmanship across the board. IM pretty sure that they are buying their level from a dollar store who get them from china from a cockeyed chinese technician !!

I like camping, I like the freedom coming with rv'ing however I am not kidding myself, my rig is supported by a light frame with barely adequate axle and tires , the box is made from luan, and styrofoam, the rest of the rig is nailed and stapled approximatly. I knew all that before buying, but hey what are my choice, one is a clone of another clone builded in the same area, from the same material, by the same people, with the same goal,.... to do more for less to get more......

Sir I'm sorry but thats how I see it this industry is sick and needs to be looked at and needs more regulation.

[Roosevelt008]

Originally Posted by homer1959

Rant ? What rant, sharing a point of view about an article written by an RV authority is ranting ? You are overly sensitive mon ami .

What do you want me to say, that we live in a world full of unicorn and rainbow ?

If you feel that you buy a quality product at a good price , and that the service is up to the promises, good for you , but in the real world, we are buying overpriced junk.

The after service sucks most of the time, it takes forever to get the parts...getting a repair done in a timely manner is almost impossible and it seems to me that an RV technician if often a Jack of all trade trying his best to covers the junk shipped by all manufacturer to his facility.

The price paid is not even the guaranty that you are buying a quality product, pusher at 500k or travel trailer / pop up trailer is at the end built with the same poor workmanship across the board. IM pretty sure that they are buying their level from a dollar store who get them from china from a cockeyed chinese technician !!

I like camping, I like the freedom coming with rv'ing however I am not kidding myself, my rig is supported by a light frame with barely adequate axle and tires , the box is made from luan, and styrofoam, the rest of the rig is nailed and stapled approximatly. I knew all that before buying, but hey what are my choice, one is a clone of another clone builded in the same area, from the same material, by the same people, with the same goal,.... to do more for less to get more......

Sir I'm sorry but thats how I see it this industry is sick and needs to be looked at and needs more regulation.

I do agree with a good deal of what you posted here....look at my signature and all the brands we've had. Believe it or not, the Scamp was the absolute best built but it wasn't large enough for our growing family. The service end is terrible because of a large lack of quality from the factory. IF the units left the factory with superior workmanship, the warranty repairs and repairs in general decrease, the service side isn't as backed up, hence better and more timely service. And I do agree that the "techs" are usually not really schooled in the RV business at all. I've always felt that my RV was built just good enough to get it sold, after that who knows how it will hold up over time....but as you said, what choices do we have as customers? I did give Jayco a peace of my mind on my most recent survey they sent me. If we don't speak up, it'll never change.

[homer1959]

Originally Posted by Roosevelt008

I do agree with a good deal of what you posted here....look at my signature and all the brands we've had. Believe it or not, the Scamp was the absolute best built but it wasn't large enough for our growing family. The service end is terrible because of a large lack of quality from the factory. IF the units left the factory with superior workmanship, the warranty repairs and repairs in general decrease, the service side isn't as backed up, hence better and more timely service. And I do agree that the "techs" are usually not really schooled in the RV business at all. I've always felt that my RV was built just good enough to get it sold, after that who knows how it will hold up over time....but as you said, what choices do we have as customers? I did give Jayco a peace of my mind on my most recent survey they sent me. If we don't speak up, it'll never change.

The last sentence in your post is really really important.

For my part I see here more often than not, hard workers with a family, happy to give thousands and thousands of dollars of hard earned money to this industry and trying to find excuses and reason to excuse these huge company for their lacks of quality and ultimatly lack of respect. Its like peoples have given up on their rights.

It may look like a very small thing but when you buy a 30k rigs and you find in hidden corners plenty of sawdust, tiewrap, elec.wiring insulation piping remnants etc etc is plainly a lack of respect for the consumers. Thats something we can see, imagine what we cant ?

What save their rear end is the camping activity, we are willing to accept a lot for this pleasure and they know that pretty well.

I think im done with most of the defect on my WH. It took me a year and half to fix the various leaks , the marshmellow floor is next on the list, two windows are on order.....hopefully ill be ok after that, thank God I had an excellent dealer, but even my excellent dealer is great mainly because the other sucks so much.....its no different for him, he had to wait over 2 months for 2 stupid windows 1 door and 2 faucet its not fun for them too.

My wildest dream would be to see a quarter of my money paid for my rig to be of bad quality, see like seeing the ink fading until it diseapear from the bill, and to have the pleasure to respond to the company that its the way it is and that is not covered that they should have kept the money sealed in an enveloppe.

That would level the force in a negociation i would say.

have a great season guys ! And dont give up for your right, you deserve a water tight box, water tight plumbing, good slide out mechanism, well laid roof membrane and a solid floor etc etc for your money :-)