RV Podcast 210: What Thor’s purchase of Roadtrek/Hymer companies means to RVers

The Big Story this week, and we mean BIG, is the purchase of the Erwin Hymer Group of Europe and North America by Thor Industries, which already is the biggest RV company in North America. By making this purchase, which also includes the sale of Roadtrek Motorhomes, Thor will become the biggest RV company in the world, with more than 24 separate RV brands. In this week’s News of the Week segment, I’ll talk about this massive $2.45 billion deal and explain what this means to the RV community as a whole and especially those who own Roadtrek or Hymer of North America models. Also this week… we have lots more news, your questions, lots of apps to suggest that will help with your road trips and a great off the beaten path report. Show Notes for Episode #210 Sept. 18, 2018 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE Before we get going let me offer this programming note. The “You are Never Too Old” segment about RVing that I had promised in our newsletter and Sunday night in our Ask Us Anything RV Lifestyle broadcast on YouTube won’t be airing this week. The magnitude of the Thor plan to purchase Roadtrek’s parent company is breaking news that we need to devote an extended period of time discussion. But never fear, that segment and interview with an 87 year old RVer will be coming in just a couple of weeks. We’ll get to the Thor/Hymer deal in our News of the Week segment in a few minutes, so stick around for that. Meanwhile, we’re just back from the Hershey RV Show, known as America’s Largest. We’ll have a full video on it Thursday. JENNIFER It was so great to meet so many of our fans and followers. We felt like celebrities there! Everywhere we went people were recognizing us and sharing their love of the RV Lifestyle. We were overwhelmed with the kid words and encouragement and had a ball meeting so many people. I had Mike video many of them so they can share their excitement about this lifestyle and inspire our entire audience. But it was a great show. They had just under 60,000 in attendance that week and we walked miles looking at new RVs. The show occupied more than three football fields and had over 1,400 new RVs of every shape, size and form on display. MIKE Next, we head to Elkhart, Indiana, the RV Capital of America. In fact, next week’s podcast will come from there. We will be attending RV Dealer Open House. It’s not open to the public but to RV dealers and sales people. All the major RV manufacturers have displays there and many use the Elkhart event to introduce new products and innovations. Thus, it’s become a major event for the industry, so we need to be there, too, and will be reporting it for you. JENNIFER A couple of Episodes back, Episode 208, we talked about how the RV Lifestyle can NOT be healthy for us because we often sit too much and eat too much. Mike interviewed a weight loss expert and decided then and there to go on a healthy eating program. He’s sharing his progress at 7PM every Sunday night on our Ask Us Anything live broadcast on YouTube. But since that healthy eating program started on this podcast, I think Mike should give a short progress report right now. MIKE Well, it’s been very good. I am down 11 pounds from what I was when we recorded that segment two weeks ago. This a very easy program, consisting of lean, organic program and limiting sugars and carbs. We were a little worried how it would be sticking to it on the road and since I started, we did our Roadtreking gathering at Algonquin Provincial Park up in Canada and the Hershey RV show in Pennsylvania last week. And because we had our own kitchen with us at both events, it was easy to do our own meal prep and then be sure I was eating properly. JENNIFER That is so true. Instead of fast food at the RV show, we just went out to our RV in the parking lot, turned on the AC and I was able to fix everything. I don’t know what we would have done of we didn’t have our Roadtrek with us because most restaurants use sugar and heap on the carbs and it’s very hard to eat correctly on the road unless you make your own food. This part of the podcast is brought to you by RadPower Bikes ,an electric bike manufacturer offering direct to consumer pricing on powerful premium electric bikes. Now with free shipping To see our Rad Power Bikes in action, just click here. RV NEWS OF THE WEEK Thor to become new owners of Roadtrek/Hymer of North America by purchasing parent company This is a huge RV industry story and it is breaking today as we record this Podcast, though we’ve been reporting on the possibility for several weeks now. But now it is official: Thor Industries Inc., based in Elkhart, IN, and the shareholders of Erwin Hymer Group SE. based in Germany, announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Thor to acquire Erwin Hymer Group, a privately held European-based international company, for an enterprise value of approximately $2.45 billion. Hymer bought Roadtrek Motorhomes about two-and-a-half years ago and launched the Erwin Hymer Group of North American as a separate company that now builds Roadtreks and Hymer-branded Class B campervans and ultra-lightweight towable trailers. In terms of RV world impact, acquisition will make Thor the world’s largest RV manufacturer, with the leading position in both North America and Europe and establishes a global sales and production footprint for the company that is absolutely immense in scope. Consider this, Thor owns the following 18 well-known brands: Airstream; Entegra Coach; Heartland RV; Jayco RV; Bison Coach, Crossroads Fifth Wheels, Cruiser Towables, high end DRV Fifth Wheels; Dutchmen which in turn builds the Aerolite, Aspen Trail, Coleman, Denali, Dutchmen, Kodiak, Razorback, Rubicon, and Voltage trailers and RVs; Highland Ridge Fifth Wheels and towables; Keystone RVs; and K-Z towables. Now you can add to that the associated Roadtrek Motorhome and Hymer brands, which also includes Sunlight, Carado, Eriba and more. So, what does this mean to current Roadtrek or Hymer customers, or those who have been considering buying one of their brands? Nothing. Things will go on just as they have. The same people will lead those companies, including Jim Hammill, the CEO of Roadtrek and the Erwin Hymer Group of North America, who is very well known to the RV community of North America for his accessibility and his involvement in the RV Lifestyle Community. Jim told me by email and in a letter sent to customers that he thinks this a great situation for Roadtrek and Hymer of North America. Specifically, he talked about Thor’s decentralized. entrepreneurial business model, which has been the hallmark of Jim’s personal leadership style. It has been widely known for a couple of months that the Hymer family members were open to selling the company and had several suitors, including Thor. And according to Bob Martin the Thor CEO, who did a conference call yesterday with investors, one of the key factors in the decision to sell by the Hymer family in Europe was the way Thor had handled the acquisition of Jayco, another huge RV company they bought a couple of years ago. “We looked at Hymer as being very similar to Jayco. It was very important to the family to know that the legacy and the name of Erwin Hymer would continue,” Martin said. ““Hymer has the No. 1 brand recognition in Europe with a family legacy. The family really wanted to turn the company over to someone that they really felt comfortable with carrying on the legacy. And so that’s where a lot of our meetings were about. It was less about price and it was more about cultural fit. We’ve got a proven track record of doing that. Then that’s where I think, for the family, that’s what really hit home.” Martin stressed that like its North American-based subsidiaries, Hymer would operate autonomously with its management team. Christian Hymer, son of the late founder, Erwin Hymer and member of the EHG Supervisory Board said, "With Thor Industries, our family has found the ideal new owner partner for the Erwin Hymer Group to successfully continue on its long-term growth and internationalization path. Thor Industries and the Erwin Hymer Group are cut from the same cloth and, in their philosophy, still bear the stamp of their founders. An entrepreneurial mindset, a spirit of innovation and quality leadership are top priorities for both groups.” Thor says going forward, once the deal is finalized, there will be sharing of best practices among all the Thor properties including Roadtrek and the Hymer North American operation, in such things as production methods and streamlined operations that will provide major benefits in design, engineering and manufacturing excellence. Martin said: “Knowledge sharing and R&D will accelerate development of technology, innovation, and ensure new technologies or features are rapidly adopted in North America and in Europe.” Bottom line here: What does that mean for people who own a Roadtrek or Hymer product or have one ordered or are planning to do so. I have spent a lot of time talking to my Roadtrek and Hymer sources on and off the record and the answer to that question is that nothing will change in day to day operations. The six-year warranties from Roadtrek will continue. New models will keep being made and dealers and customers will be getting everything they have ordered. Consumers should see absolutely no change and, if anything, faster production, continued innovation, new models and styles. I’ve already said existing top management will stay in place. There will be no plant closings or job cuts. In fact just the opposite. Roadtrek and the North American Hymer brand will continue to grow with new products, new innovations and new lines. I think Jim Hammill sums it up best. He said: “We are the same great company today as we always have been, we are not going to change our formula as it’s that formula, great people,