The Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) reports that January RV shipments more than doubled from the previous year, to 15,800 units.
The South Bend Tribune newspaper reports that the increase marked the sixth consecutive monthly improvement over the previous year - another sign the industry has begun its recovery following the economic downturn that has crippled it for the past few years.
"It's very encouraging to see the shipment numbers increase so steadily," said RVIA's Kevin Broom, told the newspaper. "And it's an indicator of what we had been seeing all along throughout the recession - which is every sign that we had pointed to continued consumer interest."
The problem, according to industry experts, was that consumers were unable to finance the purchase of RVs because of the credit crunch that made consumer loans very difficult to obtain throughout the recession.
Many believe that a rebound in the RV industry may signal an overall turnaround for the economy.
"Historically, the RV industry leads into the recession and leads out of it," said Broom. "So seeing some recovering in industry shipments is an encouraging sign for the overall economy."