Sterling RV?

[Davydd]

Interesting discovery department. I was at Lake Region RVs this morning. They just got in their first Alabama made Great West Van Legend EX. Note the tagline names.

GWVan by Sterling



Legend EX by Sterling



Proudly Made in Winfield, Alabama



Sterling was the company that bought Great West Vans.

[markopolo]

Interesting find Davydd.

add Trillium Trailers to Sterling RV - http://trilliumrv.wordpress.com/

As of Spring 2014, Trillium Trailers will be known as the Sidekick by Sterling RV, a division of Great West Van Conversions Inc. In recent months, we have relocated our manufacturing facility to Alabama to be closer to our clientele.

[Davydd]

They might be in transition with their name. Great West Vans has two problems. First, an Alabama company can barely trade on "great west" and secondly, adding trailers doesn't exactly jive with "van". Then maybe they two are keeping their options open to market cutaway chassis again as they once did with their Titan. Sterling is not a bad name to use. After the iPod and iPhone, Apple changed their official name from Apple Computer, Inc. to just Apple, Inc. Dayton Hudson Corp. officially changed their name to Target, Inc. after divesting all their department stores (Dayton's, Hudson's, Mervyn's and Marshall Fields).

[wincrasher]

Those Trillium trailers are a cool product, and a good option for some folks.

If they are expanding their brand it would be interesting to know what they are hoping to build their business into. Full line? Or segments? I don't see it yet.

But nobody will just throw away brand names. Too much invested, plus the market recognition. Tweak them, yes.

[Davydd]

So far they are not throwing away any brand names. It is Great West Van by Sterling RV and Trillium by Sterling RV. It appears to be a refocus with multiple products. Besides they don't have that big of a market to worry too much about it. Keep in mind for many years, Roadtrek was Home & Park for a company name and the van was Roadtrek, not the company.

When I first started looking at Class Bs I kind of assumed Great West Van was a western Canada company because of the name and the Rocky Mountain photos they were so fond of. Little did I know they were about the closest RV manufacturer to me just north of the Twin Cities..

[Rok]

Our 2013 GW Legend SE has the Sterling destination on it. Sterling is the name of Dave DeBraga's, (Dave is the owner of GW) fiberglass company, IIRC. I think he was trying to consolidate his companies into one company name or "umbrella" if you prefer, The Sterling Group, again IIRC.

It is nice to see that he now had product coming out of the Alabama plant.

...........Rocky Willson

[firesail]

Were you checking uip on your old GWV? Looks nice in their ads.

[Davydd]

I looked at a GWVan at Lake Region RVs last August and it had a "GWVan by Sterling" decal over the windshield above the passenger side. Then I looked at another one at an RV show in September that Lake Region RVs was displaying and that decal was missing. The side decal on both said "Legend EX by Sterling". My B said "Legend by Great West Vans." Their website has not been updated in some time so is still Great West Vans. Their Facebook page is still Great West Vans. They were at the Hershey RV show in September with Great West Vans banners and logos all over. However, I am wondering if they are just slowly weaning away from Great West Vans to Sterling.

[Bruceper]

Originally Posted by Davydd

When I first started looking at Class Bs I kind of assumed Great West Van was a western Canada company because of the name and the Rocky Mountain photos they were so fond of. Little did I know they were about the closest RV manufacturer to me just north of the Twin Cities..

From Winnipeg Manitoba Canada to be exact.

Here's a link to a short news article about them having to close in Winnipeg.

Last winter here was brutal. In some areas the frost his 6-8 feet deep which froze water lines from the city solid. When they lost their water they had to be shut down.

[Fastpaddler1]

Hmm. True but it wasn't just about frozen water pipes. It had a lot to do with Alabama and business perks there, I was born in Winnipeg and I agree. Winter was just about the worst last year.

[Davydd]

It has to have more to do with economics than anything. It may have to do a lot with marketing. In 2011 Great West Vans didn't have a Canadian dealer. All their RV dealers were in the United States.