America's RV slump deepened for a fourth straight month in April, but it remains a big-trailer problem, with truck campers and camper vans still growing, industry shipment data shows.
Manufacturers shipped 29,209 units in April, down 17.4% from a year earlier, the RV Industry Association said in its monthly survey. Travel trailers fell 20.9% and fifth wheels 25.4%, while truck campers rose 56.6% and camper vans gained 9.1%.
Each month of 2026 has fallen harder than the last: 10.7% in January, 11.1% in February, 13.9% in March, now 17.4%. Four months in, the industry has shipped 115,260 units, 13.5% behind last year's pace.
Retail registrations fell 21.9% in March and 16.9% in April, the eighth straight monthly decline, RVBusiness reported from Statistical Surveys data, a sign that buyers are pulling back even faster than factories.
The same dataset caught the mix shifting a year ago. Truck camper registrations rose 9.2% across 2025 and the category gained share of new purchases while fifth wheels, Class A coaches, and camper vans lost it, a pattern Statistical Surveys read as buyers "gravitating slightly toward more cost-conscious segments" in its year-end review. Vans are holding up at retail rather than growing; their March registrations fell 17.4% against a 22.9% drop for towables.
RVIA's forecasting panel blames higher financing costs, inflation, and tightening household budgets. Middle-income buyers are stepping back while affluent retirees keep spending, Campers Inn RV chief executive Jeff Hirsch said in RV Miles' reporting on the slump, which also found builder Alliance RV trimming most assembly lines to four days a week after weak spring sales.
The growth categories are still a sliver of the business; the 415 truck campers shipped in April sit beside 19,565 travel trailers. But both of the growing rig types skip the tow vehicle entirely. A slide-in camper rides in the bed of a pickup the buyer already owns, and a van is its own daily driver.
The reversal follows a modest 2025, which closed at 342,220 shipments, up 2.5% over 2024. RVIA's summer forecast now calls for 300,000 to 328,100 units this year, with a median of 314,000, an 8.2% drop.
How we reported this
This article draws on the following primary sources, accessed July 1–2, 2026:
- RVIA April 2026 shipment report — the RV Industry Association's monthly survey of manufacturers; the per-category shipment counts and percentage changes cited here.
- RVIA March 2026 shipment report — prior-month survey establishing the 2026 monthly decline sequence.
- RVIA December 2025 shipment report — full-year 2025 baseline of 342,220 units.
- RV RoadSigns, Summer 2026 edition — RVIA's quarterly forecast, prepared by ITR Economics; the lowered 2026 outlook and its stated causes.
Retail registration figures come from Statistical Surveys Inc. data as reported by RVBusiness; dealer and production detail from RV Miles. Both are linked inline.
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