$135k for a very basic camper?

"FINDING a market?"

I think they're still LOOKING for a market.

They are building these one off, basically a custom unit. If the quality of construction is decent, then the price is about what you are going to have to pay for the hours put in. Plan is not my cup to tea, but:

If you are going to pay custom built prices, why not have one built the way you want it? The answer is that the people buying these have neither the imagination nor the experience to do so. Yeah that is a broad brush but I think generally the case.

Campers do not lend themselves very well to mass production, or one might get decent quality for a reasonable price. They compete primarily on price, so the road to a competitive unit is to reduce the build cost, and that means cheaper materials and mainly, cheaper labor. The result is predicable and can be seen on any RV lot.

So Kudos to them for finding a market for something different, but for $100K + I can have exactly what I want, built exactly how I want it. And the Loki isn't it.

Bigfoot and Northern Lite are the best thing going these days if you want a reasonably well-built camper without trouble and leak prone slide-outs.
For the price of a Loki you can get one AND a brand new diesel truck to put it on.
And it’s a better camper anyway.

Jimh425 wrote:
Previous thread with additional comments

....yeah. That is a Post I had started. My thoughts in the end were, "They are positioning into the "expedition overlanding" cohort it appears. Competing directly with truck campers like OverlandEx here--> where pop-up truck campers start at $72,000 CAD. And competing with truck camper expedition manufacturers like Nimbl pop-up ($121,000 with flatbed tray without truck)....and many others. Buyers seem to be lined up around the block to buy them...all".

I was viewing 3 Youtuber's channels, as they filmed their walk-around of the previous overland expos. I was gobsmacked at how many new mini popup truck camper manufacturers there are. I think at last count 16 ? Most of those tiny popups (not all) were starting in the $40,000 to $56,000 USD range.

I remember when we bought our Outfitter, we paid in the $14,000 USD range for it brand new! Our Outfitter is far and a way larger (inside and out) than those $50 to $72 CAD grand popup expedition truck campers and we have many more options. That was 16 years ago, and our camper (and, 17 year old truck) is/are still in extremely good shape today


Click For Full-Size Image.

JoeChiOhki wrote:

NRALIFR wrote:
Wow. Poor choice of names if you ask me.

At over $100K, that’s the exact opposite of low-key.

low-key
lo'ke'
adjective
Having low intensity; restrained, as in style or quality; subdued.
Having or producing uniformly dark tones with few areas of contrast, as in a photograph or film.
restrained in style or quality; not flashy or intense; understated.

Nope, not any of those things.

:):)

Honestly, I was thinking more of Loki, the trickster God of Norse Mythology, given its spelt the same way :).

Wait…..…what???
Nooooo! That’s too obvious!
It was word play, I’m sure of it!
The very similar spelling (some might argue it’s exactly the same) is just an artifact of their clever reverse brand-image marketing strategy!

Guess I shoulda put that winkey-face icon on my post after all. :B :W

:):)

Previous thread with additional comments. https://forums.goodsamclub.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/30246322.cfm

NRALIFR wrote:
Wow. Poor choice of names if you ask me.

At over $100K, that’s the exact opposite of low-key.

low-key
lo'ke'
adjective
Having low intensity; restrained, as in style or quality; subdued.
Having or producing uniformly dark tones with few areas of contrast, as in a photograph or film.
restrained in style or quality; not flashy or intense; understated.

Nope, not any of those things.

:):)

Honestly, I was thinking more of Loki, the trickster God of Norse Mythology, given its spelt the same way :).

Wow. Poor choice of names if you ask me.

At over $100K, that’s the exact opposite of low-key.

low-key
lo'ke'
adjective
Having low intensity; restrained, as in style or quality; subdued.
Having or producing uniformly dark tones with few areas of contrast, as in a photograph or film.
restrained in style or quality; not flashy or intense; understated.

Nope, not any of those things.

:):)

I think this is exactly the issue with the current RV industry. Most folks are mostly concerned how many slide outs, recliners, outdoor TVs and LED awning lights a camper comes with, and not at all that bothered with how the camper is made or the quality of the systems. So that is what the manufacturers produce, cheaply built campers with lots of slide outs and TVs, and end result of this is obvious from reading the forums.

There is a whole market for exactly the opposite - campers that are very robust and well made using high quality materials and techniques, and very reliable systems, but very few 'luxuries', no slides, no TVs, no outside kitchens, no generators etc. I am not sure if this new brand falls into that category, but they seem to be trying. Other examples would be Nimble, Earth Cruiser, Tiger, Global Expedition Vehicles, Overland Explorer etc. These are all north of $100K for a 'basic camper' but in exchange you are not getting the usual 'RV Quality'.

Even when you hire more skilled workers, there is low limit how much they can change.
I used to own Barth motorhome, who had interior assembled by Amish laborers. When cabinets were nicely finished, the door-holding struts were all sagging.
I liked my Lance finishes, but structural engineering on it suck, what regardless did not prevent furnace and W/H electronic boards to fail.
Not to mention Generac generator ($4500 option in 2002) who was piece of junk, with electronic board failing almost every season.