Thor Industries, the world’s largest RV manufacturer, has placed the Heartland RV brand under the control of Jayco, another company in its portfolio. The company cited Jayco’s strong market position and optimized operations as reasons for the change. The change is not expected to disrupt Heartland dealership operations nor affect Heartland RV owners.
The move comes during a soft market for RVs and looming challenges facing the industry as a whole. According to Bob Martin, president and CEO of Thor, “aligning key Heartland brands under the Jayco umbrella creates potential to maximize the performance of those brands.”
What About My Heartland Warranty?
Customers who currently own Heartland products that are covered under that brand’s warranty should not be affected in any way. Ultimately, Thor is responsible for fulfilling that warranty through established channels. Further, many of the components in an RV, including those assembled by Heartland, are made by separate suppliers, each with their own warranties. These could include systems such as air conditioners, furnaces, kitchen appliances, and chassis components. Of course, these warranties will not be affected.
Heartland was also responsible for several brands that didn’t bear the Heartland name, including some products sold exclusively by Camping World and others sold by Bish’s. Those products will now be built by Dutchmen which is part of the Keystone family, also a Thor brand.
Martin said, “Under the leadership of (Dutchmen President) Aaron Young, these private label brands will be under leadership that has proven its ability to deliver private label offerings with strong margins. Consolidating this business with Dutchmen’s current lineup will improve our operating leverage at Dutchmen and empower Dutchmen to continue to provide high-quality private label brands previously offered by Heartland.”
My Jayco experience
I got to tour Jayco’s operations in 2024 and was shown their plants, pre-delivery inspection facilities, and more. The company was absolutely investing in operations and procedures despite the market being soft at that time. One of the most impressive aspects of this was the company’s investment in pre-delivery inspection facilities, where every RV that rolled out of a Jayco plant was subjected to a thorough top-to-bottom test.
Vice President of Marketing Trey Miller shared that Jayco is using newer software and control procedures to stay on top of customer requests and habits which has resulted in noteworthy changes to the product itself. Among those customer-driven changes were obvious ones like better mattresses, but also less obvious changes, such as moving furnace ducts from the floor. The attention to detail was clear and is one of the reasons Jayco continues to hold a solid reputation in the industry.
About Heartland RVs
Heartland Recreational Vehicles was founded in 2003 and was acquired by Thor Industries in 2010. Under Thor, Heartland RV built a 144,000-square-foot facility in Sturgis, Michigan, which features 40 stations and 34 assembly lines responsible for 5,000 RVs annually.
In addition to the house brands built for several dealership chains, Heartland also owns Cruiser RV and the DRV line of luxury fifth wheels. They also have nine travel trailer brands, a fifth wheel brand, and a toy hauler brand. It’s an extensive portfolio, and no confirmation was given as to which of these brands were making the transition.