Booming RV Industry Benefits Supplier Industries Too

The recreational vehicle industry is booming as Americans look for ways to vacation while limiting potential COVID infection points such as hotels, restaurants, and public restrooms. An investment like this has become increasingly attractive to the many travelers who are unsure they will ever be taking long trips packed with other travelers into a train, a bus, or an airplane or at least not for the foreseeable future.

Families are also using these as places to work remotely or as a classroom space for children who are not yet able to join a conventional classroom setting.

Others are finding the open road to be an attractive place to work. This trend, which had already been underway, is expanding as many white collar workers are now untethered from the conventional office space due to the pandemic and many offices are expecting to have generous work-from-home plans for the next year or beyond.

So beyond the RV manufacturers and vendors, themselves, who else also benefits from this boom?

• Vehicle companies that make the base chassis of converted vans and motorhomes
• Suppliers of engines and electric power generators as well as tires and other vehicle components
• Suppliers of construction elements such as cabinets, countertops, flooring, plumbing fixtures and fittings, small sizes of kitchen appliances, lighting fixtures, and coated fabrics for awnings, pop-up tent components, and all-weather upholstery
• Suppliers of creature comforts such as consumer electronics and furniture, from couches and tables to beds
• Suppliers of outdoor recreation products – e.g., grills, outdoor chairs & tables, motorcycles – which are used along with recreational vehicles

For more information and discussion of opportunities, see The Freedonia Group’s extensive collection of off-the-shelf research, particularly in Construction and Building Products and with reports such as Outdoor Furniture & Grills, Global Motorcycles, Global Diesel Engines, Global Buses, General Purpose Lighting Fixtures, and Recreational Vehicles. Freedonia also offers an expanding catalog of COVID-19 Economic Impact reports, which highlight how various industries are responding to the current crisis with a comparison to recent recessions. Freedonia Custom Research is also available for questions requiring tailored market intelligence.