The RV market has been stuck in a prolonged downturn, with new retail sales falling sharply across nearly every major category.
Yet the slowdown is not affecting every manufacturer or type of RV equally.
Alliance RV says it just completed three consecutive months of record retail sales. Grand Design Motorized and Newmar are helping drive growth at Winnebago Industries. THOR Industries is also reporting higher motorhome shipments and increased market share, even as its towable business struggles.
The numbers point to an increasingly divided RV market. Overall demand is weak, but certain manufacturers, newer product lines and more affordable motorhomes are still gaining ground.
New RV Sales Fell 19% in May
New RV retail registrations fell 19.04% in May 2026 compared with May 2025, according to data from Statistical Surveys Inc. reported by RVBusiness.
May marked the ninth consecutive month with a year-over-year decline and the 17th decline in the previous 19 months.
Towable RVs suffered the larger drop, falling 19.61%. Motorized RV sales declined 13.52%.
Every major new RV category declined:
- Class B motorhomes: down 9.25%
- Class C motorhomes: down 11.69%
- Fifth-wheels: down 17.19%
- Travel trailers: down 20.29%
- Class A motorhomes: down 24.75%
Those figures show that no broad category is truly booming. Some manufacturers are simply performing much better than the market around them.
Alliance Reports Three Record Sales Months
Alliance RV announced that May, June and July were three consecutive months of record retail sales, according to RV PRO.
The company builds fifth-wheels and travel trailers under product lines that include Avenue, Delta, Paradigm and Valor. Its reported growth is notable because towable RV sales have been among the weakest parts of the current market.
Alliance credited the results to its expanding product lineup, dealer network and relationships with RV owners.
“Hitting these record numbers isn’t just about the vehicles rolling off our line, it’s about the families who trust us to be a part of their adventures,” Alliance co-founder Coley Brady said in the company’s announcement, as reported by RV PRO.
There is one limitation to the claim. Alliance did not release unit totals, percentage increases or year-over-year comparisons.
“Record retail sales” may mean the best May, June and July in the company’s history. It does not necessarily mean sales increased each month over the month before it.
Alliance was founded in 2019, so it is also working from a much shorter sales history than manufacturers such as Winnebago, Jayco or Forest River. A growing company can set internal records while the overall market contracts by taking business from established competitors or reaching buyers through new dealers.
Even with those qualifications, three record months during a severe towable downturn suggest Alliance is gaining meaningful ground.
Grand Design’s Move Into Motorhomes Is Paying Off
Grand Design built its reputation with travel trailers and fifth-wheels, but the company entered the motorhome market in 2024 with its Lineage lineup.
That expansion appears to be paying off.
Winnebago Industries, which owns Grand Design and Newmar, said its motorhome sales, profitability and market presence continued to improve during the fiscal quarter ending May 30, 2026, in its third-quarter results.
The company specifically credited “sustained performance at Grand Design Motorized” and “solid execution at Newmar.”
Total revenue for Winnebago Industries still fell 9.9%, from $775.1 million to $698.7 million, due mainly to lower towable and marine volume. Its motorhome unit volume grew, however, while towable volume declined.
Grand Design’s Lineage series exceeded $100 million in revenue during its first full fiscal year on the market, according to a Winnebago SEC filing. The company has continued adding models, including Class B, Class C and Super C offerings.
That makes Grand Design Motorized one of the clearest growth stories in the current RV market. A company once known almost entirely for towables is expanding into a motorhome category that has generally held up better than travel trailers and fifth-wheels.
Newmar is also contributing to Winnebago Industries’ improved motorhome results. The company did not disclose separate unit-sales figures for Grand Design or Newmar, so it is not possible to determine exactly how much each brand grew.
Still, Winnebago’s financial report directly identifies both brands as drivers of its improving motorhome business.
THOR’s Motorhome Shipments Increased 9%
THOR Industries is seeing a similar split between motorhomes and towables.
The company owns numerous RV manufacturers, including Jayco, Entegra Coach, Thor Motor Coach, Tiffin, Airstream, Keystone and Heartland.
During its fiscal third quarter ending April 30, THOR’s North American motorized unit shipments increased 9.1% compared with the same quarter one year earlier, according to the company’s SEC filing. Motorized net sales rose 7.7%, reaching approximately $717.7 million.
Across the first nine months of its fiscal year, motorized shipments increased 21.2%.
THOR said its more moderately priced Class C models remained popular with consumers. The company’s North American motorized retail market share also reached 47.8% for the three months ending March 31, 2026.
THOR does not break those figures down by individual brand. The results cannot be used to say that Jayco, Tiffin or Thor Motor Coach individually increased sales.
They do show that THOR’s motorized brands, when grouped together, are performing better than the broader RV market.
Its towable division is facing a much different situation. North American towable shipments fell 25% during the same quarter, according to the same THOR report, as dealers responded to weak retail demand by ordering fewer units.
Buyers May Be Looking for Value, Not Just Lower Prices
Price appears to be playing a large role in which RVs are performing well.
THOR said its more moderately priced Class C models remained popular in its quarterly results. Winnebago Industries credited newer, more accessible Thrive and Access travel trailers with improving the Winnebago brand’s retail dollar share in its third-quarter report.
That does not mean buyers are suddenly abandoning towable RVs for motorhomes. Towables still account for most RV sales, and retail registrations declined across every major category in May.
The results do suggest that buyers who remain in the market are becoming more selective.
New products at attainable price points may be taking sales from older or more expensive models. Younger manufacturers such as Alliance may also be winning customers from established brands by offering different floor plans, features or ownership experiences.
At the higher end, established names such as Newmar can benefit from buyers who are less affected by interest rates and economic uncertainty.
A Divided Market Rather Than a Recovery
The recent gains do not mean the RV industry has begun a broad recovery.
Retail registrations remain down sharply, dealer ordering is cautious, and several major manufacturers have reduced their expectations for 2026.
Alliance’s reported records, Grand Design Motorized’s rapid expansion, Newmar’s performance and THOR’s higher motorhome shipments show that consumers have not stopped buying RVs altogether.
Instead, sales are becoming concentrated among manufacturers and products that give buyers a compelling reason to act during a difficult market.
For RV shoppers, that could eventually mean better pricing and more competition as manufacturers fight for a smaller pool of buyers.
For the industry, it means the current downturn may produce winners and losers long before total RV sales begin climbing again.
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