![](\"http:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/rich-americans-keep-high-end-rv-company-rolling-along.jpg\")
Most US recreational vehicles \u2013 those behemoths of the roadway often resembling box cars that accidentally wandered off the rails \u2013 roll out of gritty factories in the gray environs of Elkhart, Indiana, and aim to satisfy the wanderlust of largely middle-income customers.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the Bowlus, a very expensive travel trailer that can be towed by a Porsche sports car, no pick-up truck required.Produced in the beach-front community of Oxnard, Calif., sporting 100 more days of sunshine in a year than Elkhart, it breaks most of the RV norms with a curvy 1930s design that sweeps back to a pointed tail, a minimalist interior, and a price tag for its top-end model \u2013 at $310,000 \u2013 that is equal to 80 per cent of the cost of a typical single family home.Bowlus shows that rich people really are different, at least when it comes to spending habits. Wealthy Americans have helped keep the US economy rolling even as the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates to curb inflation, spending heavily on cars, houses, and travel.Demand for the Bowlus surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with all RVs.But as RV sales skidded \u2013 shipments of travel trailers plunged nearly 40 per cent last year as the health crisis eased, according to the RV Industry Association \u2013 Bowlus kept selling every trailer it could make.Now the company is expanding by offering a lower-priced version and selling through dealerships for the first time.\u2018A MINDSET\u2019<\/strong>The mood of households in the top 25 per cent of the income distribution has consistently run ahead of lower-earning groups since the start of last year, according to the University of Michigan\u2019s closely watched sentiment gauge. In the latest fourth quarter, it stood at 71.3, while the comparable figure for the bottom 25 per cent was 59.6.\u201cWe also didn\u2019t overproduce\u201d during the pandemic, said Geneva Long, Bowlus\u2019s CEO, when asked why her business held up while so many other producers struggled. One problem for the RV industry is that most factories hiked production during the pandemic to an unsustainable level and were then stuck with parking lots full of unsold trailers when demand suddenly cooled.To be sure, it would be hard for Bowlus to overproduce. The factory, tucked in the back of a manicured industrial park here, only has room for 10 trailers on its main assembly line.The company won\u2019t discuss its financials, other than to say it plans to make 100 trailers this year\u2013and then \u201cexpand every year while holding quality,\u201d said Long.And creating them is slow and painstaking. Bowlus\u2019s 35 workers hand fashion the cabinetry, sew the seats made from a high-tech Japanese fabric, and hand rivet and polish the aluminum. The result is a trailer that lacks many of the amenities sought after in other expensive RVs, like spacious bathrooms or walls that slide out to create larger interior spaces.Long said her customers appreciate the simplicity and the quality of her product. She\u2019s also a bit of purist about camping culture\u2013even the $310,000 model doesn\u2019t come with a TV. However they plan to offer that as an option on all trailers going forward. \u201cPeople who buy a Bowlus are the same people who buy airplanes, so it\u2019s a mindset,\u201d she said.Other producers are jumping into the niche\u2013including a battery-powered trailer being developed by another California company run by former tech executives.\u2018COKE BOTTLE\u2019<\/strong>The Bowlus was first designed by a Los Angeles aerospace engineer during the Great Depression, who applied then-cutting edge airplane construction techniques \u2013 giving it a distinctive aluminum outer shell and aerodynamic flare.He only built a handful before shutting down. Fast forward to 2014, when Long\u2019s family revived the brand and started selling trailers in the same quirky shape as the original, with a pointed tail and its door at the front end.The company has trademarked the shape. Long says it\u2019s iconic, \u201clike the Coke bottle.\u201dBowlus is among the few RVs to use a structural system called monocoque \u2013 French for \u201csingle shell.\u201d Like an airplane, a Bowlus is built with a complete outer skin of aluminum, including on the bottom, which avoids the need for a heavy frame and makes the trailers extremely light but strong. A Bowlus weighs about half as much as an equally long Airstream.NOT ALONE<\/strong>Bowlus is also part of a growing niche of smaller producers as well as old-line manufacturers who are developing new battery-powered trailers.Aero Build, in Nashville, Tenn., has started selling 21-foot trailers with solar panels covering the roof. Like the Bowlus, it\u2019s aimed at wealthier buyers. \u201cWe spare no expense on fit and finishes,\u201d said CEO Brian Fuente. \u201cEverything down to the frame is designed to last generations.\u201d The price tag: $129,900.Another startup, called Pebble, is developing a trailer powered by batteries that also help propel it down the highway, which increases range of the vehicle pulling it. One of the concerns with traditional RVs is that their heavy weight degrades the range of EVs as towing vehicles.The Pebble starts at about $109,000, while Bowlus\u2019s new, slightly shorter model lists for $165,000.\u201cThe question we\u2019re all trying to ascertain is what is the market for a high-end product like this,\u201d said John North, CEO of Lazydays RV which operates 25 dealerships across the US and just started offering Bowlus in five of them.\u201cWe\u2019ve had a number of customers interested,\u201d he said, but, less than two months in, he\u2019s still waiting for his first sale.Follow the Most US recreational vehicles are produced in Elkhart, Indiana, while the Bowlus, a luxury travel trailer, is made in Oxnard, California. The Bowlus is designed to be towed by a Porsche sports car and features a 1930s design with a minimalist interior. Its top-end model costs 0,000. Demand for the Bowlus increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the company is now expanding by offering a lower-priced version and selling through dealerships. Bowlus trailers are handcrafted by 35 workers and the company plans to produce 100 trailers this year. The Bowlus was originally designed by a Los Angeles aerospace engineer during the Great Depression and uses a monocoque structural system, making it light but strong. Other companies are also developing luxury and battery-powered trailers, such as Aero Build and Pebble, with prices ranging from 9,000 to 9,900.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1521,810,209,186,1107,1664,33,1625,432,303,3,26,2440,763,52,250,210,2321,2294,1991,67,899,1401,1276,185,2124,1033,2441,560,421,1242,618,1182,380,2442],"class_list":["post-4622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-1521","tag-battery","tag-box","tag-business","tag-car","tag-cars","tag-companies","tag-construction","tag-covid","tag-culture","tag-cyprus","tag-economy","tag-expensive-travel-trailer","tag-fashion","tag-federal-reserve","tag-google","tag-health","tag-highway","tag-income","tag-industry","tag-inflation","tag-interest","tag-interest-rates","tag-los-angeles","tag-main","tag-park","tag-prices","tag-rv-industry","tag-solar-panels","tag-sports","tag-sunshine","tag-top","tag-travel","tag-us","tag-wealthy-americans"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n
\nCyprus Mail on Google News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"