RVIA’s latest 2023 wholesale shipment forecast projects an RV industry stepping back eight years to 2015.
The Winter 2022 issue of RV RoadSigns, the quarterly forecast prepared by ITR Economics for RVIA, projects a wholesale RV shipment range of 379,200 RVs to 403,600 RVs. The most likely forecast total is 391,400, the RoadSigns issue reported.
The RV industry has not shipped fewer than 400,000 wholesale RVs in one year since 2015, when the industry totaled 374,246 wholesale RV shipments.
The new projection is a 6.5% decline from the 419,000 wholesale RV shipments projected for 2023 in the Fall RoadSigns issue.
“While the RV industry is not immune from the effects of larger macroeconomics factors impacting consumers and the economy, this forecast shows the RV industry is continuing to normalize to pre-pandemic shipment levels,” RVIA President and CEO Craig Kirby said. “The long-term health of the industry remains strong thanks to the droves of younger and more diverse buyers who have entered the RV lifestyle over the past few years.”
The Winter RoadSigns issue projects 2022 wholesale RV shipments totaling 495,300 RVs. The total would be the third-highest annual shipment in industry history, trailing only 2021 (600,240) and 2017 (504,599). The 2022 projection is slightly below the previous Fall issue forecast of 498,800.
RV shipments are expected to continue to retreat through the first half of 2023 because of economic headwinds to consumer finances, the RoadSigns issue reported. The industry will begin to recover in the latter half of 2023, the report said, with shipments expected to trend upward.
