Teton RV's Out of Business

After 41 years in business, I heard yesterday that Teton has gone out of business. It is sad to see so many of the "quality" manufacturers going down. I went to the Tacoma RV Show yesterday and talked to a number of dealers and the story was pretty much the same. Business is off and financing is so hard to get. I saw one $500,000 Country Coach that had sold, but other than that, no firm sales. As one dealer told me, the manufacturers that take care of their customers will be here in the end. Thank goodness we have Heartland that cares for and takes care of their customers.

John

John,

You are so right about all of the good manufactures going out of business. I live in northern Indiana and it is having a devastating effect here with all of the job losses. It is so hard to see companies that have a good product and have worked hard to get to that level of excellence just close up and leave a lot of good employees and customers without hope.

On of the concerns for us when we purchased our Sundance last year was the fact that Heartland as a company was fairly new to the business. Comparing a lot of brands made us sure we wanted a Heartland and this forum helped solidify our decision. It is nice to hear that Heartland continues to build market share as this will hopefully help make them resilient to the overall market conditions.

It is sad to hear about Teton. They made a quality product and had great customer care. I am sure there will be even more that will follow.

Quality is only part of the equation, Customer service and price also play big with buyers. Teton built a good product and apparently customer service was good, price on the other hand. You could buy a stick home in some states for what they wanted for their 5vers.

I think many of these companies are simply pricing themselves out of customers.

Hopefully manufactures won't start cutting corners and building junk to try to compete in this market. On a positive side I am hoping this will stop or reverse some of the outrageous prices some of the rv parks have started charging in the last few years. There was, (is actually but not for us anymore) a nice place in the Monterey CA area that was 45 a night. They got new owners and jacked it up to 75 a night during the week and 100 on the weekends. With gas prices up overall and the rest of the economy being screwed up hopefully this type of behavior will stop.

Greg

As for Teton they had a very small market for the price of their 5th wheels. Were they worth that price I don't know but for the people of could afford them I guess they were worth the price. Teton is probably the 5th wheel that we didn't look at and I'm sure there are some more we didn't get to see. Tetons wasn't in our budget, if I could have afforded the Teton we would have looked very hard at MH. As for standing behind their product I have been told they were awesome as for standing behind their Tetons. So just being able to stand behind a product dosen't mean they will survive. Oil and the housing market has had the biggest effect on the RV industry, for sure Oil. People haven't or aren't able to get financed. Times aren't good and take a look oil, its down by the barrel but not at the pump??? I'm sorry for Teton employees, and for sure the owners of Teton 5th wheels. GBY....

We were at a dealership looking at RV's this weekend and the salesman had a list of those who have gone under this year.
Along with Teton was Alfa, Travel Supreme, National, Pilgrim, Alpenlite and about 6 or 7 more that I can't remember.
Money is tight even for those who can afford to borrow.

Quality is only part of the equation, Customer service and price also play big with buyers. Teton built a good product and apparently customer service was good, price on the other hand. You could buy a stick home in some states for what they wanted for their 5vers.

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I agree. I also had to question the quality aspect, as many of their components were still "industry standard" equipment, such as Dometic, Suburban, etc.

It is sad to see these companies that have gone under. For years we bought the tickets hoping to win a Teton. In my working life I was down sized three times and finally the last time I tossed in the towel. My heart and prayers go out to all the employees who face an uncertain future and have had their life turned up side down.
Regards
Wayne