FTCA Inc, Somerset, Penn., recently announced that it is furloughing production and not receiving materials from Nov. 17 through November 27 in response to the nation’s financial crisis and lack of flooring options for its dealer network.

Allan Reeping, FTCA sales manager says that the company has orders for its popup tent campers, has inventory to supply those orders, but has been dramatically impacted by GE Money’s decision to discontinue flooring until the finance company has a chance to reevaluate how it calculates risk. FTCA has four primary vendors for flooring with GE Money being the largest.

"I would be surprised if there is a single manufacturer in this industry that is not impacted by the lack of flooring available," says Jim Sylvester, president of FTCA Inc. "The other factor to keep in mind is we have a very strong, loyal dealer base. If GE’s suspension is a short lived one, many of the dealers can probably take a 'wait and see' approach but if it goes on for an extended period, it will cause problems and dealers will have to look at other options."

Sylvester cites a recent report showing that FTCA was the market share leader in September for popup tent campers as a sign of the company’s strength. He says historically the company commands between 35 and 40 percent market share in this entry-level consumer segment.

According to Sylvester the company will be featuring its new Switchback trailer 'front and center' at Louisville this year and will bring 10 different trailers to the tradeshow in early December. The Switchback was built to be a “tent on wheels’ and is targeted at a different consumer demographic than its popup tent camper models. In previous years, the company has only showcased four trailers at the Louisville event. Sylvester says dealers will see that FTCA is adopting more aggressive marketing approach for its brands in 2009.

The company also developed a new Web site, www.colemantrailers.com which will be launched early next week to give the company a stronger Internet presence.