1998 Our Challenge - Fleetwood at the AGM
It is four years since I have been to your AGM and in that time much has happened, not only to the Company, but to the industry as a whole. We still live in uncertain times as the demise of ABI readily bears witness. The shock waves will be with us, I fear, for much of the year.
The last four years at Fleetwood have seen two Managing Directors, a brief flirtation with a Box Trailer operation and a reduction both in staff and numbers of caravans produced. Fleetwood is now in the hands of a management team consisting of Mick Shaw, David Webb and myself. This new team has the 100% support of our parent Company, Kabe of Sweden, who has already embarked on an investment programme to ensure that sufficient new plant and technology is in place to enable Fleetwood to once again competitively challenge the market for 1999. For a variety of reasons, I do not feel that the Fleetwood Caravan has been allowed to develop as it should over the past three years, and throughout that time our market share has declined.
Force
All this has to, and will, change, and I feel confident that when the 1999 model range is revealed our friends, customers and competitors will recognise that Fleetwood is once again a force to be reckoned with and a real challenge to the major players in the industry.
As I have said, this has to happen, the shape of the industry has changed dramatically over the past two years. Besides the demise of ABI, Elddis have purchased both Compass and Coachman. Swift have acquired the Eccles and Europa operation, Bailey are in a boom period and seem determined to push prices down generally for a second successive year. All this is against a backdrop of a total industry production which seems unable to break through 20,000 per year.
All this, as you will readily appreciate, will not make Fleetwood’s task any easier for the year ahead. We are a small company, playing a big boy’s game but this, of itself, presents us with unique advantages. Our relatively small size gives us the ability to improvise and specialise; we can be more receptive to individual customer’s needs, the present streamlining programme makes the Company more attractive to customers who are more used to the remoteness of big companies.
This rebuilding has already begun.
Performance
The performance of the Colchester this year has been well deserved. A luxury caravan at a competitive price, a couple of original specification changes, the right tourer at the right time, all produced sensational results at G MEX, Manchester and the NEC at Birmingham. In addition, the Company which neglects its dealers or takes them for granted, does so at its peril, and to that end, the development of a wider range of Dealerships is our committed aim.
It only remains now to thank you all for your loyal support over the past year. Obviously, our health is your health, and we recognise the enthusiasm and commitment you have all shown, whether it has been shown at your own rally programme, the Fleetwood Stand at the major exhibitions or the factory visit. Good luck to you and, once again, thank you for inviting the factory to be present today.
Richard Allen, Fleetwood’s Commercial Director speaking at this years AGM
