New Newell Coach

[lewpopp]

Yesterday a brand spanking new Newell pulled in next to me at ORA for display purposes.

This is the first front entry I've seen. Also, it is the first nice paint job I've seen on a Newell.

It was a beauty and I have no interest in it, but a lot of present Prevost owners were WOWING it as they were going through it.

Say what you want, it was $940k and looked like a real nice way to enter the highline area.

[pognumber26]

Two recent stories to relay...In the fall, a Nascar driver took delivery on an '06 quad slide...Aprx price $1,000,000...After two weeks decided he didn't like it and asked Newell to trade it for a different coach...They offered him $550k!!!!! He turned to a well known Prevost converter who did the trade at $600k...Go figure?? Yesterday I was speaking with an '04 Newell, who is looking to trade his lightly used coach,aprx 24,000 miles,with EVERY option they offered at the time...Newell offered him only 25% of his original purchase price and a couple of the Prevost converters he has approached were hesitant to even take his coach in trade...Nice to look at impossible to get rid of ??!!

[Jeffery Raymond]

Newell builds a stunning coach. Have seen many of them myself; they are at a great price point and are high quality.

It seems that the company has been reluctant to market the brand name on the internet, especially, and that has resulted in many potential new and preowned buyers from buying...resulting in lower demand, lower prices.

This seems to be a classic case of thinking that coaches can be sold at RV shows and in industry magazines. Focusing directly on buying customers is always the best approach...but you have to know where they are.

Marathon spent a ton of money advertising on the Travel Channel; perhaps they have lots of cash to burn? Finding the target market these days is the most important thing.

[Karl Blade]

Two recent stories to relay...In the fall, a Nascar driver took delivery on an '06 quad slide...Aprx price $1,000,000...After two weeks decided he didn't like it and asked Newell to trade it for a different coach...They offered him $550k!!!!! He turned to a well known Prevost converter who did the trade at $600k...Go figure?? Yesterday I was speaking with an '04 Newell, who is looking to trade his lightly used coach,aprx 24,000 miles,with EVERY option they offered at the time...Newell offered him only 25% of his original purchase price and a couple of the Prevost converters he has approached were hesitant to even take his coach in trade...Nice to look at impossible to get rid of ??!!

I appreciate being alerted to the above post. The bottom line: these allegations are simply untrue.

Specifically, no NASCAR driver with a 2006 Newell has asked us to trade it for a different coach. If any owner of a quad slide 2006 Newell inquired about trading, we would certainly offer substantially more than $550,000. In fact, a preowned 2006 Newell quad slide coach would resell today, in real dollars, for about 90 percent of the original transaction price.

Further, a typical 2004 Newell is worth a bunch more than 25% of its original purchase price. If this story has any truth to it, there is something very significant more to the story than we are being told. Like the coach was used as a mobile dog kennel, or was driven off-road for 200,000 miles, or has some such issue. The truth is that we are currently calculating the current WHOLESALE value of nice 2004 Newells at about 70 percent of the net retail prices when these coaches were sold new. Not bad considering we have just started delivering 2007 models, and these 04s are now three years old.

I personally do not like negative selling, and if these stories were started by Prevost sales people or Prevost fans, I suggest they consider touting their product on its merits rather then spreading this type of garbage. Indeed, I have great respect for the Prevost product and factory organization. I used to have regular, very pleasant visits with the former partner and president of Prevost, Andre Normand. Andre consistently suggested we build our coaches using his shells, and I just as consistently responded, with a smile, that we enjoyed being an alternative to a bus conversion. We stilll do, and are willing to discuss our product on its merits, including very good resale values.

I also appreciated Jeffery's post on internet marketing. In fact, we have had a very complete web site for several years ( www.newellcoach.com ), and have sold a significant number of coaches from leads developed from the web site. One example of our progressive approach is that we have virtually always posted the prices of our used coaches on our site, something that most of our competition does not do. Perhaps Jeffery is referring to the fact that we have not often used the internet sales sites a great deal. To the extent that we may not have used these sites as much as some others, this has been a marketing decision that is subject to change rather than a policy decision based upon any fixed positions.

Thanks for the opportunity to respond to these two posts.

Karl Blade
Newell Coach Corp.

[Jerry Winchester]

Karl,

Good post. I appreciate someone who believes in their stuff enough to come defend it and you make some good points. Competition is good and I admire your spirit.

JW

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Good post for several reasons. First, I think as Jerry says the points raised are valid and generally relate to Prevost coaches as well. But in my mind coming straight to the point and identifying yourself is to be commended.

As a member of this site I want for it to succeed and in order for that to happen all of the posts need to be factual and when there is an honest difference of opinion or even a mis-statement of facts an open discussion without getting into personalities is vital.

BTW, my wife's favorite coach of all times was a Newell that was advertised quite a while ago. It was a cream color, with burgandy accents and she measures every coach she sees against that standard.

[MangoMike]

Well this is one way to get new members to join POG.

Karl, thanks for the input and I hope you'll continue to post your thoughts on this board. We all hear and spread a lot of rumors, so it's good to get it from the horses mouth. We're all excited about high end RV life and enjoyed reading the article on your new P2000i in FMCA's magazine.

Can I get a set of those headlamps for my '97 XL1 :)

Mike

[lewpopp]

Karl

I'm the one who opened this "can of worms" and I'm glad I did.

Brian Pitts no more than stepped out of the coach after backing in and I nailed him on what an impressive exterior.

Asked him how long he was going to stay and said that it depended on how many people came by. There is a policy in our park that no signage of any kind is allow, automatically putting a display coach at a disadvantage. He said for me (kidding , of course) to spread the word.

Well, I must have done my job because Brian has started a buzz in the park.

Better make a few more this week, cuz Brian may be walkin' home.

Thanks for the comments. Too many people think they are too good to stick up for their products and have one of their peons make some sort of statement.

Lew

[Jon Wehrenberg]

It has been a while since I visited the Newell site, but since Karl's post I revisited it and have made some observations.

The most obvious is (as someone struggling with a decision to upgrade) is a Newell can be purchased with up to four slides. I also noted that the middle door which I perceived as stealing some space has been replaced with a passenger side front door.

Without a side by side comparison it is hard to determine, but a Newell seems to be the quality and features equal to a Prevost conversion. It appears however that a Newell, year for year is less expensive than a Prevost. Without having this sink down to a pi$$ing contest between Prevost conversions and Newells can anybody discuss the differences? It is my opinion that the biggest benefit to a Prevost is that it is a shell that is proven in millions of miles of commercial service, and benefits from the knowledge gained by the operators.

The Newell on the other hand is apparently built to similar strength standards, but as a purpose built product some of the Prevost compromises may not be present in a Newell (such as engine access issues).

Comments?

[lewpopp]

I did hear some of the more knowledgeable people discussing the Newell and the headline of the conversation was about the shell.

The shell of the Prevost is purchased from the manufacturer at a retail price. Then the converter charges retail on top of that and so in a way you are paying a double retail for the finished product.. I'm sure I could have put that better, but that's the "jist" of what I heard.

Also, if you really need a coach capable of the overthe road mileage of a few million, perhaps Prevost is the one. If you live to be 300 and drive normally, you couldn't put a million miles on a coach. That's where I think Newell has the right idea. Good for over a million miles(easily) and then some. Plus they make the chassis from scratch..

Correct me if I'm wrong. There's always a first time.;)

[pognumber26]

Heard BOTH STORIES FROM THE HORSES MOUTHS...The driver for the Nascar racer and the OWNER of the '04 Newell...No axe to grind...Peace and love...RFB

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Francis,

I don't have a dog in this fight either, but I have been looking very closely at the Newell Site and unless my math is wrong I see prices lower initially than Prevost conversions, but depreciation seems to track the same path as our conversions as a percentage of the original price.

I would suspect that since Newell posts prices, unlike most converters the probability someone not knowing the approximate value of their Newell would be slight.

If only they had stainless.:)

[pognumber26]

I would be suprised to find out that Any converter buys/sells/trades coaches in a way that gives a generous $$$$ advantage to the customer!!! As the purchaser of TWO H series coaches in the last 12 weeks, one new and one used, I can attest to the decided advantage every dealer enjoys in this process...Personally I am unimpressed by ANY posted price because it represents a FICTIONAL number that little resembles the ACTUAL deal price...Since I had a chance to experience the buy/trade/buy experience first hand, with both private sellers and dealers,I have gained invaluable knowledge about their business...On the trade side, one VERY prominent sales exec volunteered his company's trade- in policy RULE...They take the shell year as the basis for their trade in allowance...that makes a 2001 a 2000 in a heartbeat...Then they figure any other additionals,ie mileage/condition/etc...This MUST BE A hard and fast rule because TWO converters came in with almost identicle trade prices!! With very little price advantage by my used conversion's converter!!!When it comes to purchase price, for me, its simple...How badly they WANT to sell coaches...On my private purchase I paid more then I should have...On my new coach I purchased it for over $$100k LESS than just 90 days earlier...Published prices had NOTHING to do with the final outcome!!! A willing buyer and seller, as always,made the deal a reality...Peace...