ELKHART, Ind., Jan. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- THOR Industries (NYSE: THO), the leading manufacturer of recreational vehicles, announced today that it has entered into a strategic partnership with TechNexus Venture Collaborative. The partnership will identify and engage an ecosystem of entrepreneurs and transformative start-up companies across the globe that will connect and align with THOR to power its strategic initiatives. The collaboration will accelerate the pace of innovation, improve THOR's end-customer experience, and drive a number of margin improvement initiatives at THOR.
TechNexus operates as a force multiplier between ambitious enterprises and entrepreneurs to fund and incubate opportunities that lead to new market potential, and ultimately new revenue growth. To create a robust ecosystem, THOR and TechNexus will identify and develop ventures that leverage unique business models, emerging consumer trends, and advanced and new technology applications important to the Recreational Vehicle industry. Prioritizing early- and growth-stage companies globally, THOR and TechNexus will accelerate the success of portfolio companies by contributing industry and technical expertise, access to channel partnerships, and the ability to launch and scale innovative solutions through selective co-development opportunities with THOR.
THOR's investment in this partnership will empower it to expand access to the RV lifestyle – for the explorers, ramblers, weekend warriors, and every adventurer in-between; and provides a pathway to engage with next-generation technologies like autonomy, robotics, electric vehicles (EV), and digital consumer experience.
"Our venture with TechNexus is an important element of our commitment to maintain our leading position in the RV space not only today but well into the future as we continue to be the industry leader in the identification and adoption of developing technologies. The alignment of our internal innovation strategy with external resources through the venture with TechNexus will enable THOR to continue to move at pace and allow us to remain agile. This partnership will be an important part of the engine that will drive success in our strategic objectives," offered Bob Martin, President and Chief Executive Officer at THOR.
More than just providing capital for growing ventures, the goal of this effort is to make it much easier for fast growing and innovative companies to do business with Thor and to give Thor a more diverse view of the technologies, experiences and features important to our growing customer base.
"Our innovation strategy is focused on the next generation of features that will materially improve the RV user experience. Quality, functionality, sustainability, and convenience are all key focus points of our strategy. We were excited to reveal our electric concept vehicles and the innovation that drives them at the Tampa SuperShow as well as to announce our partnership with ZF Friedrichshafen AG. This partnership with TechNexus will further power our innovation and global reach in a way to make it quickly matter to RVers. Combining a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem with our legacy enterprise insight at scale will make our innovation process faster and ultimately more effective. Our innovation efforts will elevate the experience of the entire industry," added Todd Woelfer, THOR's Chief Operating Officer.
"As shifting behaviors and new technologies change the way people think about recreational vehicles – there is an untapped opportunity for THOR to redefine how customers live an RV lifestyle, and simultaneously connect with a new generation of experience-seekers to discover RVs for the first time," said Terry Howerton, CEO of TechNexus. "We are excited to put the power of the engine that drives TechNexus behind THOR to help drive its innovation strategy at such an incredibly disruptive time in the history of the storied RV industry. TechNexus' operating model has driven incredibly strong results to our partners, including Brunswick Corporation, the leading innovator in the marine industry."
ABOUT TECHNEXUS
TechNexus Venture Collaborative helps leading corporations and ambitious entrepreneurs work together to create new business models, new revenue streams, new products, and markets. Learn more at technexus.com.
ABOUT THOR INDUSTRIES
THOR is the sole owner of operating companies which, combined, represent the world's largest manufacturer of RVs. For more information on the Company and its products, please visit: https://www.thorindustries.com/.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release includes certain statements that are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are made based on management's current expectations and beliefs regarding future and anticipated developments and their effects upon THOR, and inherently involve uncertainties and risks. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance. We cannot assure you that actual results will not differ materially from our expectations. Factors which could cause materially different results include, among others: the extent and impact from the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the responses to contain the spread of the virus, or its variants, by various governmental entities or other actors, which may have negative effects on retail customer demand, our independent dealers, our supply chain, our labor force, our production or other aspects of our business; the ability to ramp production up or down quickly in response to rapid changes in demand while also managing costs and market share; the effect of raw material and commodity price fluctuations, and/or raw material, commodity or chassis supply constraints; the dependence on a small group of suppliers for certain components used in production; the level and magnitude of warranty and recall claims incurred; the ability of our suppliers to financially support any defects in their products; legislative, regulatory and tax law and/or policy developments including their potential impact on our dealers and their retail customers or on our suppliers; the costs of compliance with governmental regulation; public perception of and the costs related to environmental, social and governance matters; legal and compliance issues including those that may arise in conjunction with recently completed transactions; lower consumer confidence and the level of discretionary consumer spending; interest rate fluctuations and their potential impact on the general economy and, specifically, on our dealers and consumers; the impact of exchange rate fluctuations; restrictive lending practices which could negatively impact our independent dealers and/or retail consumers; management changes; the success of new and existing products and services; the ability to maintain strong brands and develop innovative products that meet consumer demands; the ability to efficiently utilize existing production facilities; changes in consumer preferences; the risks associated with acquisitions, including: the pace and successful closing of an acquisition, the integration and financial impact thereof, the level of achievement of anticipated operating synergies from acquisitions, the potential for unknown or understated liabilities related to acquisitions, the potential loss of existing customers of acquisitions and our ability to retain key management personnel of acquired companies; a shortage of necessary personnel for production and increasing labor costs to attract production personnel in times of high demand; the loss or reduction of sales to key dealers; disruption of the delivery of units to dealers; increasing costs for freight and transportation; asset impairment charges; competition; the impact of potential losses under repurchase agreements; the potential impact of the strength of the U.S. dollar on international demand for products priced in U.S. dollars; general economic, market and political conditions in the various countries in which our products are produced and/or sold; the impact of changing emissions and other related climate change regulations in the various jurisdictions in which our products are produced, used and/or sold; changes to our investment and capital allocation strategies or other facets of our strategic plan; and changes in market liquidity conditions, credit ratings and other factors that may impact our access to future funding and the cost of debt.
These and other risks and uncertainties are discussed more fully in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2021 and in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended July 31, 2021.
We disclaim any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained in this release or to reflect any change in our expectations after the date hereof or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based, except as required by law.
Contact
Mark Trinske, Vice President of Investor Relations
[email protected]
(574) 970-7912
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SOURCE THOR Industries, Inc.