More Bad News: 290 Employees Lost to Keystone RV Layoffs

It has been widely reported through many news outlets about Monaco Coach shutting down 3 plants and laying off 1,400 employees. Yesterday, it was announced by Keystone RV's CEO and president Ron Fenech, that 290 employees throughout Keystone RV would be losing their jobs. Keystone RV is the manufacturer of the widely popular Everest, Montana, Raptor, Fuzion, and Cougar lines. Much like the Monaco situation, employees were surprised by this because the move was effective immediately and without compensation. The main reasoning behind all of this is that dealers are trimming inventory to compensate for the lack of lot traffic. Fenech went on to say that the move was unprecedented because they normally do not have to adjust employment numbers, rather just weekly production rates. However, it was necessary in this market and the orders are just not coming in.

"I would say we have two things going on," Fenech said. "Retail sales are off some and on top of that dealers are reducing their inventory. Those two issues combined are creating a situation where you see a slowdown in our industry."

One key thing that Ron Fenech mentioned was a very prevalent underlying problem facing the RV industry that many people do not realize. Just as important as the gasoline prices, are the banks unwillingness or uneasiness to fund RV loans. We have seen many people be turned down, that in the past would have definitely been approved. They may not have had the best interest rates available, but they would have left our lot with an RV. The credit crisis has not just hurt people trying to get home loans, it has hit across many industries.

One of the chairmen from the RVIA was on the local news, and he was trying to show some confidence in the industry. He said that we have seen times like this, and we have rebounded from times like this. Election years are always slower years, couple that with the pullback in the economy and you will have times like these.

I will let Ron Fenech's statement conclude this post. "Once we get past the election year, if and when the economy picks up, you will see a very quick rebound of the RV business," he said. "I say that because our industry has become kind of an integral part of millions of RV users' lives. And Americans like their free time and like to vacation and RV-ing is a very affordable and pleasurable way for them to vacation."

Monaco Coach may have good news for local economy

These days, a lot of news coming from the RV industry has not been very good news, such as the FEMA issues with formaldehyde. Monaco Coach, which is one of the most well-known manufacturers of Class A motorhomes has had to make some changes to its structure based on steadily-declining motor home sales. Earlier this summer it was apparent that high fuel prices had finally affected the local manufacturer, because they announced a layoff of around 200 employees. Apparently these layoffs were not enough to keep them from packing up and leaving Elkhart, for good. Monaco abruptly laid of 1,400 employees and announced they would be moving their manufacturing to achieve a more centralized organizational structure. This move by Monaco has left many people worried about their future because of the ripple effect that this change could have. Custom Chassis Products is the supplier of the chassis' used in all Monaco diesel pusher motor homes. It has been rumored for a few weeks now that the International Truck & Engine joint-venture chassis plant would also be going with Monaco. However, John Nepute, President of Monaco released a statement stating that they are working on some plans that may leave this plant and its jobs intact. This would be great news for our local economy that is tightening up after an already slow economy. With news that Hummer's consumer lines of H2 and H3 Sport Utility Vehicles are probably going to be discontinued, we needed some good news like this. Let's just hope that this plan to keep Custom Chassis Products in town is a success.