Hutch/Jim,
Happened to be at the factory today getting ready to take delivery of my new 2552. I had seen the first post on this news back on January 16 that Jim posted ("PC News From Tampa") regarding the Phoenix sales team wearing Campers Inn shirts at the Tampa show, and his information that Phoenix was moving from factory direct sales to selling through the Campers Inn network.
I took the opportunity to ask Pete in sales about it today, and Pete confirmed that last week was the final week for direct sales from the factory. All sales will now be conducted through Campers Inn--during the transition period, any contacts or sales inquiries at Phoenix that result in a sale will actually then be referred to and transacted through Campers Inn. Over time, Campers Inn will initially be the sole contact point and source for sales of Phoenix Cruisers. I say initially because Phoenix realizes that with Campers Inn being an East Coast chain, they need to get something in place for the west coast and other areas of the country. As I understand it, right now they anticipate establishing additional agreements with comparable high quality dealership groups in other areas.
According to Pete, Phoenix does not anticipate any significant change in their current sales, pricing, and discount philosophy. They evidently have buy-in from Campers Inn on that point, and expect to actually train Campers Inn sales reps on their approach and the Phoenix line. It also apparently won't affect customization or factory support and repair services at Elkhart (though I'm unsure how the customization piece will work, since the customer ultimately won't be dealing with the factory at all). This will be an interesting transition that will bring Phoenix back "full circle" to selling through dealers again. As Jim said in his post, I believe they intend to use the freed-up resources to continue to expand, and specifically to charge forward with a new line based on the Transit and the prototype that they unveiled late last year.
Mike
