Newmar’s Journey Forward

Winnebago Industries President and CEO Mike Happe welcomes attendees to the event in Orlando, Florida.

became North America’s top-selling Type A diesel in 2021, according to Statistical Surveys Inc. Newmar built more than 15% of all Type A motorhomes sold, equating to the industry’s second-highest Type A market share.

“As we began to work with the Newmar team on a day-to-day basis, we gathered a mutual respect for how each company has done things through the years, and our eyes were opened to some of the constraints in the business,” Happe said. “From an operations standpoint, this business produces incredibly beautiful products that customers generally become passionate about, but Newmar’s operational complexity is higher than it needs to be.”

Leadership and Investments Besides millions in facility improvements, Happe said Winnebago Industries is sharing resources such as its enterprise manufacturing and supply chain Center of Excellence. He said by sharing resources and best practices, Winnebago Industries hopes to remove Newmar’s operational limitations to reach new milestones.

“Certainly, we will remove those constraints without doing any harm to Newmar’s quality reputation,” Happe said. “We hope that we can even raise the quality and fit and finish to an even higher level in the future.”

We are supremely confident in the leadership team that we have in place at Newmar that is running the business today.”

– Mike Happe

Happe said Matt McQuown, Newmar’s vice president of supply chain, continues to improve the manufacturer’s supply-chain processes.

“The last 24 months really exposed significant improvement opportunities in how we work with our supplier partners. Unfortunately for our suppliers, a lot of attention gets cast their way for shortages we are experiencing,” Happe said. “There is plenty of room for us to improve as well, to partner with the suppliers to make sure high-quality components get here on time. A lot of effort is being spent in that area with Matt McQuown, but Matt also can learn from other businesses in the Winnebago Industries portfolio. He has tremendous resources at Winnebago Industries as well.”

Evolving for the Future In Happe’s opening remarks to the Newmar dealer body, he said Winnebago Industries was reviewing the product development process to integrate evolving technology. Technology would prepare Newmar for generational RV ownership transitions, particularly in comfort and electrification.

“All of our businesses will apply new and emerging technology, in their own ways, to meet the changing customer demographic, and Newmar will be no different,” he said. “We look forward to navigating that generational change. These things do not happen overnight, but we need to build more and different capabilities….”

(L to R) Newmar’s Michelle Kemp, director of sales; Sammut; Matt McQuown, vice president of supply chain; and Matt Utley, vice president of service and facilities development, announce annual dealer sales and service awards.

(L to R) Utley, Rusty Eckstein of Mt. Comfort RV in Indiana, Ken Eckstein of Mt. Comfort, McQuown and Sammut gather on stage. Mt. Comfort is one of 19 dealers honored with Newmar service awards.

(L to R) Sammut, Bob Green of General RV, Bruce Terveen of General RV, McQuown and Utley gather on stage. General RV is one of 10 dealers honored with Newmar sales excellence awards.

Sammut said Newmar executives are watching RV consumer trends and will respond with features, design and products to meet those needs. As an example, he said Newmar is building shorter floorplans based on consumer requests. Newmar’s 34-foot and 37-foot floorplans have increased as a percentage of every coach it builds.

The company created its Super C motorhomes—Supreme Aire and Super Star—in response to changing consumer demand. Sammut said Newmar’s leadership is pleasantly surprised with the motorhomes’ success.

Regarding Newmar leadership, some attendees expected a big announcement on a candidate to fill Newmar’s open president/CEO position. No such announcement was made during the show. After Matt Miller’s resignation in September 2021, Brian Hazelton held the role until November. Happe said the search continues; CEO Joe Shoemaker temporarily leads Newmar’s daily operations.

“We are supremely confident in the leadership team that we have in place at Newmar that is running the business today,” Happe said. “Joe Shoemaker has really stepped up as an interim day-to-day leader, primarily to make sure that the communication between Newmar and Winnebago Industries is efficient. Joe’s done a fantastic job.”

Newmar’s Cycle of Life

Newmar’s National Dealer Meeting featured 2023 models of all 13 brands. Three motorhomes received the manufacturer’s quadrennial lifecycle refresh.

By RV News Staff | Photos by Mario Ramirez Photography

(L to R) Newmar’s Shannon Stover, marketing manager; Noah Gregg, art director; and Darren Halbig, creative director; play the roles of park rangers as they welcome attendees to the show.

Newmar unveiled its 2023 model year upgrades and lifecycle refreshes to its dealer body during the manufacturer’s annual national dealer meeting. All but two of Newmar’s 75 dealers attended.

Manufacturers typically refresh RV brands in a three- to five-year cycle. Updates can be expansive, featuring new floorplans, interior décor and exterior designs.

Newmar refers to the pattern as “lifecycle changes.” They occur every four years on Newmar’s brands.

Kim Moore, Newmar interior design manager, said nearly all interior aspects transform during such changes. New features can include re-envisioned color palates, slide-out facias, cabinet and sink hardware, wood stains, flooring, furniture fabrics, bedding and much more.

“It gets tired after four years. If I didn’t change something, then I would have to wait another four years,” Moore said. “Typically, you want to make the big changes during the lifecycle. If I do not change the headboard now, that means it stays for eight years. I do not like to do that.”

Décor upgrades can be slight or extreme, Moore said, depending on what came previously. To get ideas, Newmar’s design team welcomes feedback from dealers and consumers. Moore also attends residential kitchen, bath, flooring and housing trade shows.

Three Newmar Type A brands underwent 2023 model year lifecycle changes: the gas model Bay Star and the diesel coaches Dutch Star and Essex.