By Marilyn Odendahl, Truth Staff
modendahl@etruth.com
NAPPANEE -- Underscoring analysts' conclusion that the retail market for recreational vehicle "remains awful," luxury motorhome manufacturer Newmar Corp. expects to make additional layoffs soon.
A "small number of production workers" will be removed from the company payroll sometime this week, said Keith Weirich, director of human resources for Newmar. He declined to say specifically how many employees would be laid off.
Weirich attributed the downsizing at Newmar to the rising fuel prices, tightening credit and falling consumer confidence that are plaguing the entire RV industry.
Shipments through June 2008, the most recent figures available from the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association, are down 17.1 percent from 2007.
Motorhomes are leading the decline. Year-to-date, shipments of motorhomes are off 33.2 percent and comparing June 2008 to June 2007, shipments are down 54.4 percent.
In a report, Robert W. Baird & Co. analysts Craig Kennison and Mark Altschwager state the retail market "remains awful" and dealers are anxious to reduce inventory which make the analysts "pessimistic about the next few months."
"As the primary RV season concludes," Kennison and Altschwager wrote, "we see no evidence of a recovery before spring."
The key will be consumer confidence but the Baird analysts do not foresee that improving until "oil drops further, home values find a bottom and election anxiety clears."
For Newmar, the coming layoffs will be the third this year. In January, the company cut 118 and in July laid off another 160, Weirich said. Previous reductions have included production and administrative personnel.