After two days of spectacular weather, a steady rain Wednesday threw a wet blanket over the 2026 Elkhart RV Open House which, with some exceptions, has concluded for the year with a somewhat optimistic vibe in the face of a challenging market.
For the most part, the conversations among dealers, manufacturers and industry colleagues generally settled on three topics: 1. The market, which continues to be a challenge; 2. Open House, which was still marked by camaraderie despite the event seemingly having scaled back; 3. 2027 model year product, which received positive reviews although it was mentioned that many OEMs elected to play it safe rather than initiate costly changes.
THOR Industries, the RV Hall Supplier Showcase and many OEMs finished their Open House on Wednesday, while Forest River’s Dealer Expo remains open today for media and social media influencers. Other manufacturers — including, but not limited to, Alliance, Axiom, Chinook, Elevation Park Model Co., Ember, Lance, Modern Buggy, NeXus, Sunset Park, and Waldoch — continue to welcome dealers to their displays today and, for some, Friday. Dealers are encouraged to contact their OEM reps to determine who remains open this week.
A number of OEMs and dealers told RVBusiness the Open House was a decent success despite the persistent headwinds that continues to kick the market-recovery can down the road.
• Ben Hirsch, COO of Campers Inn RV, said dealers and manufacturers have to be prepared for the possibility that 2027 will be similar to 2026.
“And if they do that, then they’ll probably not be surprised and it’ll be fine. But we shouldn’t be preparing for a 2027 that’s going to be a robust year when it doesn’t look like that is going to be the reality,” he said. “We just have to be real about where we’re at in the market and most people are starting to, I think, recognize we shouldn’t be planning on 2027 to be robust.”
Jeff Hirsch, CEO, picked up on that sentiment: “We’re in an environment where we have to be very strategic and we have to look for stability, not growth. We stabilize first, the market comes back and then we grow again. And there will be that opportunity.”
• THOR Industries President Bob Martin said he continues to see much of the industry be deliberate in its strategic planning.
“In general, I think what we’re seeing here at Open House and we’ve been seeing throughout the summer and fall, it’s just more caution just as we look at next year,” he said. “We’ve made some significant moves within the THOR company in North America two weeks ago (see: “THOR Changes Leadership at North American RV Operations”). And, looking at the future, we consolidated some companies, and we really need to focus on how we grow in a market that is going to be pretty tight.
“People are camping. People are out in campgrounds. They’re using their vehicles. They may not be going as far with fuel being as expensive, but they’re still camping and the lifestyle is still something that we believe in, the long-term viability for all of us,” he added.
• Taking a quick break from reviewing units in the Heartland RV display, Jason Lippert, the recently installed CEO of Fun Town RV, said the industry will eventually emerge from the current “long and frustrating” cycle.
“I’ve been through, I don’t know, four different cycles since my 32 years. It’s just another interesting cycle. Every one’s been different. This one’s just been kind of long and I think frustrating for everybody,” he said. “There’s lots of things going on that are keeping it difficult out there. We put a lot of product in the market and we saw a lot of dealerships open over the couple years that it boomed (during COVID), and now we’re dealing with some of the fallout. There’s dealerships that are closing and there’s a glut of inventory still, I think, and ultimately it just takes time to work itself out.
“But this industry’s resilient and there’ll be winners and losers,” Lippert added. “We plan on being winners in the game. I like that we’re in the state of Texas. I mean, that’s where our business is, and Texas is probably one of the more, I’d say, resilient states in the country in terms of its economy. I feel good about our chances of not only survival, but just continuing to figure out how to take share. We’re ultimately going to take a bigger focus on the customer experience and really drive a different customer experience for the consumers out there, which I hope helps the industry as a whole.”
• “The 2026 Open House has been great,” said Trevor Kropf, general manager of park model-builder Kropf Industries. “We’ve seen a lot of growth within the park model industry, especially with Kropf Industries. We had our groundbreaking on Monday (see: “Kropf Ind. Breaks Ground on 61,000-Square-Foot Expansion”) and we had a lot of dealers present. All of our employees came for that. It was a really special occasion to break ground because they’ve been a lot of part of the past success and the future success.”
As far as the Open House itself, Kropf, whose 80-year-old company debuted a quad loft unit among the company’s six U.S. and one Canadian models on display, said the event is as much about relationships as it is about business.
“Yeah, yeah, I would say so,” he said. “It looked like attendance was down just a little bit from prior years, but at the end of the day, I still think we have a really strong industry. We captured a lot of those first-time RV buyers during the COVID era. It’s going to stabilize itself over the next couple years.”
• Seated under the big tent on the morning of the second day was Gulf Stream Coach President Phil Sarvari, who told RVBusiness that Open House was “going very well.”
“The new product and new designs, the people absolutely love it. We’ve been getting orders. Majority of the dealers are coming today and tomorrow, so we’re looking for a fantastic show. We’ve got absolutely unbelievable and amazing pricing. But the overall view, this is the best product that the dealers have seen,” he said.
As excited as he was for the company’s Open House prospects, Sarvari was equally optimistic for RV market — as soon as certain issues resolve themselves.
“My sense of the market and in talking with the lenders, is that inventories have been down. In speaking with all the dealers, they’ve positioned themselves to get the right products in place. They’re looking forward to a big 2027,” he said. “As you know, I’m always positive and I just believe as soon as this war ends … The perception of the retail consumer and our dealers are hesitant. They’re waiting. There’s a lot of pent-up demand on the sidelines and I think it’s going to be a phenomenal year next year. It’s going to surprise us all.”
Ashley Bontrager Lehman
• Ashley Bontrager Lehman, co-founder and president of Ember Recreational Vehicles, echoed those sentiments.
“For Ember, we’ve had a really good showing here at our Ember Expo. Our traffic has been really steady. Lots of dealers coming to the ‘Ember Campground’ not only just for the chili, but to see what we’re up to and the new things that were introducing for the new model year,” she said.
“You know, it’s tough out there still,” she continued. “The marketplace is still soft, and everybody’s still needing to work really hard for every sale. But generally I would say that the sentiment, overall, was positive. We’re all getting through this together, and dealers liked what they saw here at the campground. We did very well. We had a really good show, not only with current dealers, but we picked up some new partners that were really excited about, going into 2027.”
• Taking into account the dealers he’s spoken with not only at Open House but also his company’s Dealer Homecoming in August, Brad Whitehead, general manager of the towable division at Jayco, said he is not hearing “doom and gloom.”
“They all have settled into the reality of the market that we’re in right now, and that we’re going to be in this for a while. It’s not a short-term thing,” he said. “There is no, ‘Hey, once we get through the fall,’ or, ‘Hey, once we get to the first of the year.’ We’re in this for a long haul.
“They have just adjusted their mindset and adjusted how they’re doing business,” he continued. “In all things, they’ve adjusted accordingly and they’re walking around here, they’re enjoying seeing the product that we’ve rolled out that’s new, and dealers are still buying stuff. Retail customers are still buying stuff. It’s just at a different pace.”
• Likewise, Austin Bontrager, co-owner and COO of Bontrager Outdoors, said there was a steady flow of dealers to the manufacturer’s display at its Bristol, Ind., headquarters, all of whom were greeted by the company’s 2027 products that featured consumer-friendly price points.
“They’ve been pretty excited to see that we’ve started doing metal-sided units to hit that price point that they’ve been shooting for,” Bontrager told RVBusiness.
Regarding the market, he said his company is feeling the effects just like everyone else. But he credited Bontrager Outdoors’ ability to quickly pivot to more affordable products as reason to be excited for the future.
“We feel like Open House has been pretty helpful for us because, like I said, we’ve had a lot of positive feedback for the metal units. This is what they want. This is what they’ve asked for. And this is their debut,” he said.
It’s hard to say what the overall take-away was, given the rather wide array of industry people and companies on hand and the mix of approaches with some manufacturers showing product in town while others welcomed dealers at their main facilities in the surrounding area.
In all fairness, however, there was – amid a relatively tough overall marketplace – plenty of positivity as exhibiting dealers, manufacturers and suppliers looked ahead at the rest of 2026 and prospects for 2027.
“We thought it was really positive,” said Nate Goldenberg, a managing partner of Brinkley RV, which showed product to visiting retailers at its rural Goshen, Ind., headquarters and on Wednesday, its last day, was as busy as any around. “Dealers’ perceptions of the product was really good, actually. We launched two new fifth-wheel brands, the Model I and model R, as Brinkley is starting to have a wide enough product offering that they (dealers) can really rely on us as a core brand, which is pretty cool.
“Our stuff was by appointment only, so the dealers came in at scheduled times. But Wednesday especially, we had a lot of dealers come through, and then we had a lot of dealers that were still in town and came back a second or third time. So, the display was exceptionally busy. But I think we saw over 90% of our dealers.
“And a lot of them are having good years and are really positive about the industry as a whole. So, it was refreshing.”
• Making the trek to the Midwest once again was Lance Camper, which brought a completely revamped lineup from its southern California campus.
“We have all new exteriors and interiors on every model,” said Gary Conley, director of marketing. “Normally, we’ll come out with one model, but we stood back and prepped everything. So, everything that we’re currently building is here on display, 100% ready for the retail market moving forward.”
The large display coming from so far away is not a small investment, of course, but Conley & Co. said it’s worth it.
“It’s really important because I think that there’s a stigmatism about stuff that’s built in Indiana versus California and whatnot,” he said. “And, I think it’s important for a dealer to have a variety of options because not everybody wants to buy the same unit, the same build, and the same process. We’re a little bit unique in terms of how we build and what we build, being in California.”
Lance Camper also is leaning in on its independent status as well, after Bill Rex acquired the company from the former REV Group (now Terex) in June of 2025 (see: “Bill Rex Planning to ‘Bring Lance Camper Back to Glory’”).
“It’s been a pleasant change. I think that the direction of having a hands-on ownership really helps to guide the product. That’s why our dealer base, many of whom are hands-on, independent dealers, are basically a mirror of who we are,” Conley said.
• Axiom RV President Co-Founder AJ Jones was also very satisfied with the 2026 Open House. His 1-year-old company introduced its Avora, a more affordable fifth-wheel, and Grit, a new toy hauler line, to dealers who stopped by the company’s Executive Parkway location.
“It’s been absolutely overwhelming and just a positive response for all the products, but something that really stood out for us is our brand new Grit and this a new brand new Ahora series, that are at a much, much, much lower price point than our Vendetta and Imperium models. So, it’s been going resonating really, really well with dealers and we were able to add a significant amount of dealerships to our dealer body over this week. So, we’re very blessed and just grateful to be here and it’s been an awesome, awesome response for it.”
That said, Jones didn’t want to come across as too Pollyana about the Open House.
“You know, I think, just, I don’t know, I feel I need to be a realist here. I think traffic might have been a little bit down as far as that goes,” he said. “But, you know what? I think it was kind of a blessing in disguise. I mean, we actually have nice time to have true deep conversations with some of our dealer partners and everything else. And it worked out great. We had a continuously steady flow of dealers coming through the display and it was it was awesome.”
