A Record Month for RV Shipments

Posting the highest July shipment numbers in four decades, the RV Industry Association’s monthly survey of manufacturers found that total RV shipments ended the month with 43,035 units, an increase of 53.5% from the 28,044 units shipped in July 2019.

“RV shipments continue to show impressive gains again this month,” said RV Industry Association Chairman Garry Enyart. “Reflective of the booming RV sales across the country and the appeal of RVs to a wide range of consumers, production is up this month for both the towable and motorized segments of the industry.”

What Caught Our Eye

The RV industry measures shipments to dealer lots, rather than sales, which aren’t exactly the same thing. The eye popping increase is clearly mostly attributable to the increase in interest in RVing during the pandemic. But another factor is that most manufacturers were shut down for a period of several weeks and couldn’t ship anything. When the factories came roaring back to life, they had some catching up to do.

Another interesting insight: only about 9.5% of RVs shipped to dealer lots this year have been motorhomes. Towable RVs have always drastically outpaced motorhomes, but that’s down from 11.5% last year and about 14% 5 years ago.


Wholesale RV Shipments

JULY 2019JULY 2020YOY Last YearCUM. 2019CUM. 2020YOY To Date
Towables
Travel Trailers (ALL)19,83530,26852.6%166,268151,191-9.1%
Travel Trailers – 5th Wheel4,6038,10076.0%43,78941,905-4.3%
Folding Camping Trailers30153176.4%4,2473,451-18.7%
Truck Campers263261-.8%1,7921,672-6.7%
All Towable RVs25,00239,16056.6%216,096198,219-8.3%
Motorhomes
Conventional (Type A)1,0501,012-3.6%10,1076,550-35.2%
Van Campers (Type B)33063391.8%2,1093,15149.4%
Mini (Type C)1,6622,23034.2%16,31311,182-31.5%
All Motorhomes3,0423,87527.4%28,52920,883-26.8%
Total RV Shipments28,04443,03553.5%244,625219,102-10.4%
Source: RV Industry Association

Get the latest in RV news in your inbox every week! Sign up for our no-spam newsletter:

And check out the latest in RV news on our YouTube channel: