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Luxury RVs are the Next Millionaires` Mansions

The Luttrells ? she 37, he 47 ? are part of a growing, high-end RV culture. Although RVs` were once perceived as a blue-collar objects ? today they are the next millionaires` mansions. Undeterred by soaring gasoline prices, an expanding amount of executives, doctors, and other professionals are opting to spend their leisure time in coaches that sell for $1 million to $2 million and have an interior that look like re-created Pullman cars. Many proud owners also tow trailers that carry cars, motorcycles, motorized Segways, or golf carts.

These RVers may spend nights in campgrounds or Wal-Mart parking lots along with the rest of the camper crowd. But their final destination is often a gated RV resort ? complete with spa, tennis courts, and pools ? in popular vacation spots such as Palm Springs, Calif., Hilton Head, S.C., and Naples, Fla., where per-night rates range from $30 to $80. But many RV owners buy lots in these resorts so they can park their rigs for extended stays. At a typical size of 40 feet by 100 feet, this is pricey real estate. Jim Howell, 75, a retired car dealer from Carlisle, Pa., paid $84,000 for his lot at a park near Naples a few years ago and says it`s now worth more than $200,000.

Longer term, the industry is riding powerful trends. Soon well-heeled baby boomers will be retiring in droves, while fears about terrorism have made flying and overseas vacationing less attractive. `Unless fuel is rationed, I don`t think it will have much of an effect,` says Frank X. Konigseder, a vice-president at Liberty Coach. Sure, luxury RVs get only six to eight miles per gallon, but most owners put fewer than 10,000 miles on them annually. In any case, says Jim Neely, who owns Memphis` Interstate Bar-B-Que Restaurants and drives a Newell RV: `If you can`t afford to spend a couple thousand dollars on fuel during a trip, you shouldn`t own one.`

This is an elite group. Only about 325 RVs with million-dollar-plus price tags are bought annually by private individuals, figures Karl Blade, owner of Newell Coach, a Miami (Okla.) maker of luxury RVs. A smaller number are leased or purchased by touring entertainers, NASCAR drivers, and others. The biggest makers, such as Marathon Coach in Coburg, Ore., Chicago`s Liberty Coach, and Newell say sales are holding up this year. But as a 200-gallon diesel-fuel fill-up approaches $600, smaller players are feeling the pinch. Monaco Coach, in Coburg, Ore., recently decided to close its faltering million-dollar RV business.