So where are all the buyers for Roadtrek?

[Keyne]

Originally Posted by gregmchugh

Today’s news on the EHGNA situation...

https://www.therecord.com/news-story...lly-certified/

For me that article leads to more questions. They mention in the article that the units could be dealer demos and not intended for re-sale... they don't know if any were actually sold to consumers... and that they could have been in the process of certification; not avoiding certification. Lots of holes in the article that now we may never know the answer. Either way it doesn't seem like a great way to do business...

[Davydd]

Dealer demos have to eventually be sold to customers. They are definitely intended for re-sale.

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by Davydd

Dealer demos have to eventually be sold to customers. They are definitely intended for re-sale.

I don’t think it would be unusual to start manufacturing and delivery of units to dealers for future sale while waiting for final regulatory approval which could be a formality.

[Keyne]

Agreed. It is possible they were close to having official approval or if changes were required they could have been minimal and retrofitted the units before sale. Just saying that the article on its face is not complete so its easy to assume one way or the other.

[Davydd]

Class B vans is such a miniscule market of mostly small dealers that I think there are few Class Bs delivered to dealers that would not eventually be for sale. Maybe some demos are destined for the big RV shows but I don't think to the dealers. Dealers are in the business of selling product nor demoing.

When I bought my Great West Van from the largest Class B dealer in Minnesota, he begged me to not take delivery until after the Minneapolis RV show in February so he could demo it at the show. I wasn't going anywhere anyway but he got a lot of free labor out of me as I went every day selling it by the mere fact I was protecting it from damage. OK, I was babying it standing next to it or sitting inside and answering questions.

[hbn7hj]

The local Roadtrek dealer stated that he has 20 Roadtrek vans that he cannot sell. The titles are tied up in the bankruptcy. Just an FYI.

[Keyne]

Originally Posted by Davydd

Class B vans is such a miniscule market of mostly small dealers that I think there are few Class Bs delivered to dealers that would not eventually be for sale. Maybe some demos are destined for the big RV shows but I don't think to the dealers. Dealers are in the business of selling product nor demoing.

When I bought my Great West Van from the largest Class B dealer in Minnesota, he begged me to not take delivery until after the Minneapolis RV show in February so he could demo it at the show. I wasn't going anywhere anyway but he got a lot of free labor out of me as I went every day selling it by the mere fact I was protecting it from damage. OK, I was babying it standing next to it or sitting inside and answering questions.

I thought the article was about certification of the new trailers not the Class B RV's. Because it was a new model that RT had not built yet I could see where they might be waiting on final certification, but wanted to send demo units out.

[Davydd]

I thought various Mercedes Benz entities were owed $6 million dollars in that detailed list. That's a lot of Class B vans and not just trailers, and I doubt they were demos to dealers. That goes for trailers too or whatever.

[gregmchugh]

The Hymer trailers have nothing to do with Mercedes Benz, how did we get them into the same discussion?

The trailers were not yet certified for sale.

EHGNA owed Mercedes some big bucks...

[mumkin]

None of the dealers could sell these Hymer trailers because they had no titles. I would imagine that the plan was to provide the titles once they had all the permits. Then came the Receivership...

The receivers reported that they were expediting titles for dealers and all vans sold to retail customers were provided with proper titles. (Vans, no mention of the trailers)

They also reported that MB had repossessed all of their unpaid for vans in storage facilities. As did Beaver Motors in PA who was providing Promaster platforms. No report on how this affected the liabilities list

[GeorgeRa]

Originally Posted by gregmchugh

The Hymer trailers have nothing to do with Mercedes Benz, how did we get them into the same discussion?

The trailers were not yet certified for sale.

EHGNA owed Mercedes some big bucks...

I think it started with this link you posted https://www.therecord.com/news-story...lly-certified/.

This was a good post showing a Roadtrek mismanagement.

[Keyne]

Short article here seems to indicate that indeed several uncertified trailers were sold to customers (although dealers could be customers... doesn't clarify end consumers) and over 185 were left unsold. Also, mentions they were not CSA "tested"... doesn't sound like they were close to certification if they weren't even tested. It will be interesting to see how the auction/buyer situation unfolds.

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/sale-of...o1E7Q_sm7zg_gc

[booster]

I think the last article I saw said that the bids were due on 4/3/2019 and would be evaluated by 4/8/2019, so we are getting close to more information if that schedule is correct.


I wonder if all the bidders knew about the certification stuff, as that would certainly affect their valuation?

[GeorgeRa]

Based on this Eriba video it seems as the Hymer/Roadtrek Co kept the EU style trailer brakes to keep weight down and not require an electrical brake connection.

In EU mechanical inertia brakes (called overrun - like surge brakes but with a mechanical cable instead of hydraulic lines) are very popular on small trailers which I have never seen in NA, so they could have difficulties getting appropriate approvals.

Changing to DOT approved brakes is certainly possible but not cheap nor trivial

[GeorgeRa]

In addition to my previous post, EU hitch balls are primely 50mm so if this hitch is from EU it could be also 50mm which could fit on 2” (50.8mm), kind roadtrek style fit, but perhaps not good enough for DOT.

I shouldn’t criticized Roadtrek of this approach, I did myself. For our second Westfalia, purchased via European delivery in 1985, I also purchased in Germany a Volkswagen factory hitch with a fixed 50mm ball. It worked OK, I only lost trailer a few times, just checking if you paying attention.

[mumkin]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

It worked OK, I only lost trailer a few times, just checking if you paying attention.

[gregmchugh]

Roadtrek has a buyer. Maybe no dancing on the grave...



https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/40...dtrek-rv-brand

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

In addition to my previous post, EU hitch balls are primely 50mm so if this hitch is from EU it could be also 50mm which could fit on 2” (50.8mm), kind roadtrek style fit, but perhaps not good enough for DOT.

I shouldn’t criticized Roadtrek of this approach, I did myself. For our second Westfalia, purchased via European delivery in 1985, I also purchased in Germany a Volkswagen factory hitch with a fixed 50mm ball. It worked OK, I only lost trailer a few times, just checking if you paying attention.

See who bought Roadtrek, the owners of the Westfalia brand...


https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/40...dtrek-rv-brand

[Bud]

"eventually to more than 200 employees"

[booster]

Very interesting and someone who nobody had even mentioned, at least that I heard. Looks like a good sized company, family run so we will probably never know the details of the deal or how they handled the debt load.


I would now have to say that the existing owners may have some hope of their warranties coming back. I certainly hope so for everyone's sake.


Probably the Kitchener plant so the old employees should be able to get at least some of the jobs back. If they just focus on Roadtrek vans, that plant should be ready to go.


Very surprising, but very good news in many ways.