2003 AGM - Report from the factory by David Webb
David Webb said it had been a very hectic year for the factory and a successful year too. “This time last year we were getting over the euphoria if having an award for the previous Heritage and we are trying to get ourselves together and to capitalise on it. We continue to go forward particularly with the top end of our range and the Heritages have really gone very well, so much so that at one stage we did not know how we were going to produce them all. Our sales have gone up by 18% this year which is quite something and we are very pleased about it.
A lot of it is down to people like yourselves and you have spread the word amongst many people around the country. Yes we do some advertising but it is people like your selves that have helped us and we appreciate it, we really do. To put it into context Earls Court sales was up by 20% this last year and G Mex sales were up by 30% and NEC was about the same as last year and much of that was because we had already pretty well sold our full capacity, and dealers were taking advantage and were selling their demonstration models, but none the less we did have a successful show.
Moving on from that I suppose I ought to mention that we did launch the Volante and that has been received quite well. We were delighted with certain of the sales coming out of this, it is basically a Heritage on a single axle although we decided to term it Volante just for want of another word so that we could maintain the Heritage as the twins. The other item that was a success this year was the new Colchester 560 and again we were delighted when we launched that half way through the season and that will be one of the cornerstones of next year’s sales or so we believe. It is very difficult looking into a crystal ball at the future but that is where we think a lot of next year sale will be coming from. It seems to have hit a space in the market in the range that we have. I suppose the biggest change that has come over to us this year, we have agreed a partnership with Adria which is the Slovenia company. We have agreed a partnership with them which is effective from the 1st July 2003, when we will be the sole importers of all their products. That means models under the Adria brand, we will import and distribute and sell through dealerships throughout the country. Initially it will be caravans and Motorhomes. We have never sold Motorhomes from Fleetwood although I got involved in manufacturing and selling Motorhomes when I worked in France. It is an exciting new development for us since the Adria concessionaires companies are fully owned subsidiaries of Fleetwood Caravans. What it does to your relationship with somebody who buys an Adria caravan I don’t know, maybe it is something you would like to consider, maybe it is something that could boost your membership, or maybe you could convert them to buying a Heritage.
At the moment the factory is in total chaos. We changed our computer systems as of 31st March and at the same time we are having new office space by building a mezzanine floor over the factory. It will be good when it is finished, it will make us more professional, with more centralised offices and hopefully it will give us better control and help us to help our customers. At the same time we have got some changes in what was called the after-sales department, Alan Baldason has left that department and we are in the process of recruiting somebody else, and the department will be renamed Customer Care and that is our intention. We are growing and we are continuing to grow and trying to update Fleetwood’s image. We are now beginning to be known as a serious contender, as competition to the big boys, the Swift, the Explorer group.
Can I thank you for inviting me to come this morning, I enjoy meeting you and have been involved with the club since the outset. Thank you to Phil who has done secretary for a number of years. It has been a good relationship and rapport with the factory and that certainly helps. Thank you very much, may the club go on and prosper and we will see many of you at the factory. Good luck to you all, also to Pat who is about to take over as Chairman. Thank you.
