Demand for Airstream trailers up, says company president: Dealers are ordering more trailers, which means more work for Ohio man

Airstream, a division of Thor Industries, is seeing growing retail and consumer demand and has increased production by 30 percent during the past six weeks. Like its parent Thor, Airstream is based in Jackson Center, northeast of Sidney in Shelby County.

Dealers are ordering more Airstream trailers and products, based on their belief that customers are flocking back to the market, Wheeler said.

"We call it maybe 'dealers' confidence,' but to us, dealers are customers," he said.

The rebound in wholesale orders from dealers began in July and continued through August, the executive said in a recent interview. Production was up 30 percent as of Sept. 28. The order backlog is more than three times what it was on the same date last year, he said.

That direction is especially promising when previous trends are considered: Wholesale orders have been down 55 percent over the last 12 months while retail sales fell 30 percent, Wheeler said.

Thor as a whole is seeing a recent improvement, too. On Sept. 29, Thor reported net income for its fiscal fourth quarter of nearly $24.8 million, up from just over $5 million in the same quarter last year. However, for the entire fiscal year, net income was $17.1 million compared to $92.7 million last year, the company said.

"The RV business is improving after having been in a depression for over a year," Wade F. B. Thompson, Thor chairman, said in a statement.

Airstream last month restored a full 40-hour production week; production had been cut to 36 hours last September, Wheeler said.

The company has more than 100 workers on its lay-off list. Seven have been recalled as of last week. If additional workers are needed, laid-off employees will be tapped first, Wheeler said.

To buttress what the company sees as good news, Wheeler points to an industry forecast by Richard Curtin, a University of Michigan consumer surveys director.

In the fall 2009 issue of "RV Roadsigns," Curtin wrote that he expects 146,200 RVs to be shipped by the end of 2009, with that number rising to 185,800 units in 2010, up 27 percent.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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