My recent trip by Class-A to the heartland of RV manufacturing in Indiana made me more aware of the many issues that affect the motorhome industry.

Recent economic conditions eliminated a number of RV brands. Some of these brands died off and left their owners with orphans, while others resurfaced under new ownership. Nevertheless, there were a number of changes taking place during my brief visit that seemed like a positive step for the RV industry.

The end result is that the revival of the RV industry is creating improvements in RV design, as well as in customer service and support. The best example of this was Jayco’s launch of the Entegra Coach brand.

Jayco took an existing quality product and made upgrades to it. They gave it a level of customer service and support previously unheard of in that market segment and established an aggressive plan to bring out new floorplans and features in an ongoing process.

Class-A diesel customers generally have high expectations. In many cases they are paying more for their motorhomes than for their houses. But the fact is their houses don’t bounce down the road like the motorhomes, nor do they have powerplants and drivetrains.

RV: Jayco’s purchase of the bulk of the Travel Supreme assets and subsequent launch of the Entegra Coach brand was a unique marriage. What did Travel Supreme and Jayco have to offer and how did this affect the Entegra product?

Wilbur: When Jayco acquired the assets of Travel Supreme, it allowed us to enter the Class-A business with an established reputation for quality construction of a product that was already out there. What Jayco brought to the table was some added value and a strong reputation for not only building a good product, but standing behind that product with warranties and well-constructed units and good systems in place to provide added support to both dealers and customers.