Roadtrek has a buyer...

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

Very cool look. Heavily modified VW bus or did someone make a look-alike trailer from the ground up?

Google it...

https://dub-box-usa.com/

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

Very cool look. Heavily modified VW bus or did someone make a look-alike trailer from the ground up?

Fiberglass look-alike. First made in the UK, then more recently in the US. As they say, “no VW vans were harmed in the making of this trailer.”

[Boxster1971]

What do you think is happening?

https://www.rvbusiness.com/blog/erwi...r-auction.html

"Toronto, Canada-based Infinity Asset Solutions announced that a four-day auction of the Erwin Hymer Group North America (EHGA) assets will run July 16-19 at the company's Kitchener, Cambridge and Guelph, Ontario, Canada manufacturing plants.

According to a release, over $10 million of machinery, recreational vehicle parts and finished trailers will be put up for auction. Other inventory includes steel fabrication, thermoforming equipment, air compressors, new RV Euro trailers, vehicles, warehousing, shop tools, parts and accessories, electrical and electronics, paint shops and over 75,000-square feet of executive boardrooms and office equipment."

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

What do you think is happening?

https://www.rvbusiness.com/blog/erwi...r-auction.html

"Toronto, Canada-based Infinity Asset Solutions announced that a four-day auction of the Erwin Hymer Group North America (EHGA) assets will run July 16-19 at the company's Kitchener, Cambridge and Guelph, Ontario, Canada manufacturing plants.

According to a release, over $10 million of machinery, recreational vehicle parts and finished trailers will be put up for auction. Other inventory includes steel fabrication, thermoforming equipment, air compressors, new RV Euro trailers, vehicles, warehousing, shop tools, parts and accessories, electrical and electronics, paint shops and over 75,000-square feet of executive boardrooms and office equipment."

This is stuff left over after the purchase by Rapido...

[booster]

Yep probably all the Hymer specific parts and tooling. I wonder if the moved the Roadtrek tooling from Kitchener to the new facility?

[GeorgeRa]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

What do you think is happening?

https://www.rvbusiness.com/blog/erwi...r-auction.html

"Toronto, Canada-based Infinity Asset Solutions announced that a four-day auction of the Erwin Hymer Group North America (EHGA) assets will run July 16-19 at the company's Kitchener, Cambridge and Guelph, Ontario, Canada manufacturing plants.

According to a release, over $10 million of machinery, recreational vehicle parts and finished trailers will be put up for auction. Other inventory includes steel fabrication, thermoforming equipment, air compressors, new RV Euro trailers, vehicles, warehousing, shop tools, parts and accessories, electrical and electronics, paint shops and over 75,000-square feet of executive boardrooms and office equipment."

These trailers are nice, ~$20K?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygNouqYxFS8

[gregmchugh]

This report describes all the various assets and how they were distributed including the stuff being auctioned off...

https://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/sit...ne_10_2019.pdf

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

These trailers are nice, ~$20K?

There are issues with the trailers which it appears were never tested and approved to meet either Canadian or US RV standards. Some were already sold and some seem to be located at dealers (not sure about the ownership of these) and some are part of the auction...

See info in the report linked above...

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by gregmchugh

This report describes all the various assets and how they were distributed including the stuff being auctioned off...

https://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/sit...ne_10_2019.pdf

Thanks for this link. Beyond the discussion on assets it has sone interesting stuff in section 10 about Roadtrek second row seats not meeting basic safety requirements. On page 40 it indicates there are 1900 vans made between 2013-2019 that don't meet Canadian and US safety standards.

It indicates the receiver is contacting Transport Canada and NHTSA about the issue and will report later.

Sounds like Roadtrek was involved in more than financial fraud.

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

Thanks for this link. Beyond the discussion on assets it has sone interesting stuff in section 10 about Roadtrek second row seats not meeting basic safety requirements. On page 40 it indicates there are 1900 vans made between 2013-2019 that don't meet Canadian and US safety standards.

It indicates the receiver is contacting Transport Canada and NHTSA about the issue and will report later.

Sounds like Roadtrek was involved in more than financial fraud.

As suspected many times, it seems that engineering was not one of their strong points...

[booster]

Originally Posted by gregmchugh

As suspected many times, it seems that engineering was not one of their strong points...

Neither was a concern for their customers safety or an adherence to the laws, it appears. We still don't know if there will be any legal consequences for the parties responsible for this mess.

[jbxr7]

Auctioning off the rest of EHGNA, that Rapido didn’t buy, has begun. Apparently, you can bid online and they should be adding spare parts, etc soon. https://infinityassets.com/erwin-hym...quidation.html

[avanti]

Originally Posted by jbxr7

Auctioning off the rest of EHGNA, that Rapido didn’t buy, has begun. Apparently, you can bid online and they should be adding spare parts, etc soon. https://infinityassets.com/erwin-hym...quidation.html

Oooh! Let's all chip in and buy a CNC router.

[mumkin]

I suspect that some of it is duplicate factory equipment. Rapido took what they wanted and needed...

[gregmchugh]

News story on the auction...

https://www.therecord.com/news-story...-in-cambridge/

[gregmchugh]

Interview with Rapido

https://www.rvbusiness.com/blog/rapi...-roadtrek.html

[mumkin]

Interesting details in there:

No Westphalia for two more years ()... sticking to Roadtrek models... some, not all.

All new executives... no rehires of previous top management

Production not until late Sept/early Oct...

Interesting that he didn't confirm Cambridge factory location which previous articles had suggested had been decided.

The good news is that this is the man that brought Westfalia back to both life and profitability. Let's hope he can do the same for Roadtrek.

[rockymtnb]

Also interesting that after Rapido acquired Westfalia out of bankruptcy in 2011 they've been able to rebuild Westy sales to over 7000 units annually. That's larger than the entire Class B market currently in North America.

[RossWilliams]

There is an interesting interview with Westphalia's general manaager in which he makes the distinction. "This is not a company acquisition; it is an asset acquisition. We bought everything related to Roadtrek products: parts, tools, and intellectual property.

After the closing, we will have to create an entirely new company beginning with establishing an administration and production staff."


Despite that, they are clearly going to embrace Roadtrek's past.

"We will resume the existing models, for the majority at least, taking a look at the models that have sold well and those that have not sold as well. There may be models we will choose not to continue. But in general, we will not change the Roadtrek DNA and will continue with the existing portfolio."

What that means, however, is that the Roadtrek company (aka Hymer NA) is still in receivership. Rapido has not bought the company, just some of its assets.

Another interesting thing in the receivers report is that the Hymers had insurance on their acquisition of Roadtrek. They can collect on that insurance if they can show that the financials they were given at purchase were misleading. So the claim that the "reporting problems" predated the acquisition are self-serving. I suspect that, unlike money from sales of assets, that money from any insurance would not be subject to creditors' claims in bankruptcy.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by RossWilliams

So the claim that the "reporting problems" predated the acquisition are self-serving.

That does not make it untrue.