Heartland Acquires Fleetwood Towable Brands

Heartland Acquires Fleetwood Towable Brands

REPRINTED FROM RV BUSINESS

February 3, 2010 by RV Business



Heartland Recreational Vehicles LLC today (Feb. 3) announced the acquisition of the remaining active trademarks of Fleetwood Enterprises Inc.’s towable brands — commercial nameplates that Heartland describes in a press release as the “some of the most recognized and iconic brands in the industry.”

“This is an exciting transaction for Heartland,” said Heartland CEO Brian Brady. “Fleetwood’s towable brands have long been among the most widely recognized names in the towable RV segment, with loyal customers and an extensive dealer network. By acquiring the trademarks of Fleetwood’s towable products, we will enhance Heartland’s brand portfolio with industry leading names such as Prowler, Pioneer and Wilderness.”

“In the last five years,” he added, “Heartland has become one of the leading manufacturers of towable RVs and is the third-largest manufacturer of fifth-wheel RVs in the U.S. Our phenomenal growth and success has given us the financial strength to pursue the acquisition of Fleetwood’s legendary trademarks. We would like to thank our dealers and customers for their continued support of Heartland and we look forward to enhancing our industry leadership by continuing to create great products that our customers love.”

In addition to producing 15 existing brands of travel trailers and fifth-wheels, 900-employee Heartland expects to begin manufacturing towable RVs under the newly acquired brands during the next 12 months. Under terms of the transaction, Heartland has acquired all active trademarks of the towables RV segment of Fleetwood Enterprises from a bankruptcy proceeding, and Heartland will not assume any liability for warranties or claims relating to existing sold and unsold Fleetwood-manufactured products.

GOOD JOB HEARTLAND !! This is a very smart move. It assures the continued availablity of a good product, while sending Heartland into a new zone. Best wishes and may God Bless ya, Al & Dee weaver

Just keep the Heartland brand in the quality segment it is... If this purchase makes you stronger then by all means CONGRATULATIONS!

CONGRATULATIONS HEARTLAND -- Glad to hear the good news as we continue to enjoy our Sundance in sunny Florida!
James & Norma Hazel
Russellville, Arkansas

Congratulations Heartland!

Oh boy use the names if you must just don't get down to that level.I don't see how it will not associate Heartland with Fleetwood quality which in my opinion was not very good.I speak from past experience.

It's interesting that when I found this post, it was preceded by one where owners were making observations on the "rats nest" of plumbing and electrical lines that we find in our coaches.

Growth is a good thing....but it can have pitfalls. I hope that HL will not lose site or focus on the product line that placed them in the strong market position that they currently enjoy.

Just my observation.

I am kind of on the fence with how I feel about this. While I agree that Fleetwood has definetly been around for a long time and the name is almost a household name in the RV arena I am concerned.

What does this really mean and how does it affect Heartland? Will they only use the name and build Fleetwwod named Heartland products?

HMMMMM?

Mark

Does this mean the Coleman trailers too?

Like others, I really hope that Heartland are smart enough to recognize that one of the reasons for their success is their better quality (yes, in spite of the numerous complains that I and others here have made). I truly hope that nobody at Heartland sits down with the all-too-evil spreadsheet and says, "hmmmm, if we cut corners here and there, and sales go up, look at all the extra money we'd make." That seems to have been the logic with so many of the "cheap" brands that have failed.

Perhaps there are some opportunities for Heartland here. Did Fleetwood own any current patents? And did this purchase include those patents, or was it just for the names?

Chris

The one positive thing I can think of is this may help expand the dealer network and give us owners more service options.

I have owned two of Fleetwood products and vow never to own another one. The one thing that I hope Heartland does is brain wash the the people that is over qt and the people that are in charge of getting replacement parts out to not only the dealers but the owners of the units. Do not want to through that tug of war again. So far I am extremely pleased with the way I have been treated by Heartland hope it does not change.

Jim (jpajax),

Not sure I follow you but with respect to the Fleetwood towables brands, Heartland purchased only the names, no other assets and no liabilities.

Anything we would build using say, the Prowler name, would fall under the Heartland warranty and processes.

Jim

jmgratz said:

The one positive thing I can think of is this may help expand the dealer network and give us owners more service options.

Click to expand...

Jim - I think you are right on with this. Some dealers who carried FW for decades may want to pick Heartland up to get a couple of those FW brands back. What those units will look like versus what FW made them like - I don't know.

I think it's a gamble for Heartland. One that could pan out nicely in the larger picture.

Jim

wyleyrabbit said:

Like others, I really hope that Heartland are smart enough to recognize that one of the reasons for their success is their better quality (yes, in spite of the numerous complains that I and others here have made). I truly hope that nobody at Heartland sits down with the all-too-evil spreadsheet and says, "hmmmm, if we cut corners here and there, and sales go up, look at all the extra money we'd make." That seems to have been the logic with so many of the "cheap" brands that have failed.

Perhaps there are some opportunities for Heartland here. Did Fleetwood own any current patents? And did this purchase include those patents, or was it just for the names?

Chris

Click to expand...

Chris,

You have been critical of Heartland and I appreciate the credit you do give us. How businesses make decisions is their business and the finished goods quality vs features vs cost vs customer acceptance will be the yardstick which it will be measured by. Build junk and it will not sell long! Bad business model in my mind. I don't think you'll see us adopt that.

No patents, other assets or liabilities were included with this purchase. Just the active trademarked towables names. I'll post a complete list of those when I am able to do so.

Jim

The way I see things,

Heartland gets to use a well known group of names. And do a Heartland Twist to how they should be built & how they should be Presented to their customers & give a whole new meaning to those names in the way of Customer Service.

Can't be but a " Win - Win " for those well recognized names and the NEW High Quality Towables that Heartland is known for building!!!

Make those towable RV's Proud to have a new Owner Heartland !! Congratulations on the purchase !!!

mrcomer said:

Does this mean the Coleman trailers too?

Click to expand...

Mark,

I don't think so Mark. Maybe it was sold separately. It's got a pretty decent trade name as far as I know so it probably had it's own significant value in the marketplace.

Jim

I think you are absolutely right Marv!

Jim

Jim this is Jim I hope that is case because there is nationally known dealer with in 8 miles of me and have had real good success dealing with them and they sell Fleetwood towable brands.

Pipeline!!!

Congratulations to Heartland !!!

Wide base of Dealers and customers will be introduced to Heartland with the acquisition of the well-known brands. If continued those brand names will be associated with Heartland and their existing models. It seems reasonable to expect that association would lead to some of those former Fleetwood customers buying into other Heartland brands.

Seems like good business move... hope it pays off for Heartland.

Hopefully Jim Gratz is right and a larger dealer network will come out of this and we will all benefit.