New truck camper mfg.

jmtandem wrote:

Not related to the New US Camper but Lance Truck Campers in Australia, have decided to build a Truck Camper locally. I saw the first ones at the Sydney Caravan and Camping show. Similar to the Lance on a 6 x6 BT 50 conversion.Slightly modified Camper, Australian Caravan interior. They call it " Custom Camper" not Lance, but is part of the small Lance operation here.
Similar to the Lance on a BT 50, but a modified body. They did show US produced Lance's as well.

Maybe off shore markets are becoming the new customer base for truck camper manufacturers. North Star has been sending campers off shore for years as has Airstream with their trailers. Now Lance. Is the American market saturated already?

No, Truck Campers are still a niche market in Australia,North Star is struggling and Airstream is a real niche in Europe .
Gent I talked too said the former head of the now very much defunct Caravan manufacturer Viscount Caravans , came up with the idea and people in the US , liked the concept. No verification on that at the moment.
Here is the " Custom Camper" it is near the tent in this shot and if you blow up the shot, you can make out the wording. Better photo of the Camper

Not related to the New US Camper but Lance Truck Campers in Australia, have decided to build a Truck Camper locally. I saw the first ones at the Sydney Caravan and Camping show. Similar to the Lance on a 6 x6 BT 50 conversion.Slightly modified Camper, Australian Caravan interior. They call it " Custom Camper" not Lance, but is part of the small Lance operation here.
Similar to the Lance on a BT 50, but a modified body. They did show US produced Lance's as well.

Maybe off shore markets are becoming the new customer base for truck camper manufacturers. North Star has been sending campers off shore for years as has Airstream with their trailers. Now Lance. Is the American market saturated already?

Not related to the New US Camper but Lance Truck Campers in Australia, have decided to build a Truck Camper locally. I saw the first ones at the Sydney Caravan and Camping show. Similar to the Lance on a 6 x6 BT 50 conversion.Slightly modified Camper, Australian Caravan interior. They call it " Custom Camper" not Lance, but is part of the small Lance operation here.
Similar to the Lance on a BT 50, but a modified body. They did show US produced Lance's as well.

This is NOT going to be cheap. Look at what a similar low volume maker such as the XP Camper costs. Outfitters are not exactly cheap either and they sell about 150 units a year which this new brand won't be doing even close to that.

If you're going to take on this kind of venture, you really need to keep it under your hat until you have a stock of sellable product, competitively priced, ready to ship.

People are not going to fork over their hard earned money to an unestablished business based on an artist's rendition. They are certainly not going to pay more to get less.

They are going to be at Overland Expo apparently. If you look at the link, they are building the camper as we speak. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. So far it looks like a nice quality product. I have no idea if from a business standpoint it will work out for this company, but I hope it does, and I wish them the best.

I wasted 10 minutes trying to find a fully fleshed out version of either the Alaskan/XP revisited or the 1-ton tall box. No customer reviews because there is no product. I think they have some talented mechanical engineers who occasionally tent camp, trying to think outside the box. Look at the vehicles in the parking lot. That tells you something. I also believe it's good to know what the corporate memory is with truck campers inside the box. Not much displayed here. This reminds me of the boom-and-bust cycle of the Silicon Valley dot.coms in the 90's. "Let's build something quick. Just pump your talent. It doesn't matter what it is or if anyone will buy it."
One good thing was dealing with the twisting motion of the back half of the truck frame. IMHO, a 3 point pivoting frame is the best if the camper box is not too heavy, and having the single pivot at the rear is the best yet. Their little demonstration showing the pivot parts with no load on the suspension is no demonstration of the real world. I am a little dubious about the size of the rear pivot. I think it's too wimpy. I remember the brew-ha-ha when XP camper first announced their intentions. Lots of hoopla until they had a product. The good news for them is it has turned into a thriving business with satisfied customers. There is a customer base for this kind of camper. Whether the 'new manufacturer' will have a customer base is yet to be seen.
I see a parallel in a start-up Mexican Restaurant in our town. We waited 6 months before going there, letting other people work out the bugs during the all important period of adjustment.
jefe

mkirsch wrote:
People are not going to fork over their hard earned money to an unestablished business based on an artist's rendition.

The number of fully funded ventures on sites like Kickstarter and GoFundMe say otherwise. I've always been amazed at the number of people willing to shell out big big bucks on someone's concept and a promise of amazing things without anything tangible to show for it. Something like 45,000 people have sent money to Elio Motors for their 3 wheeler backed by a hilariously bad business plan that doesn't stand a snowball's change in hell of working. But hey, tell the people that your product is going to "change the world!!!!" and they'll gladly empty their bank account on a promise! Heck, I even liked the concept, but once I saw their financials, it was obvious that I'd stand a better chance at throwing a grand into lottery tickets.

realter wrote:
Thanks, I missed that part. All I saw were drawings of some future campers. Had just finished watching Shark Tank, where a common question is " tell me about your actual sales ".

So many of these "new and revolutionary" RVs are just someone's pipe dream with a poor business plan. It's too bad.

If you're going to take on this kind of venture, you really need to keep it under your hat until you have a stock of sellable product, competitively priced, ready to ship.

People are not going to fork over their hard earned money to an unestablished business based on an artist's rendition. They are certainly not going to pay more to get less.

Thanks, I missed that part. All I saw were drawings of some future campers. Had just finished watching Shark Tank, where a common question is tell me about your actual sales".

You make an interesting comment. Prior to the recession truck campers accounted for about 9000 new units made and sold a year. This is a very small part of the RV overall market. And Lance accounted for about half of the 9000 campers. That leaves about 4500 truck campers divided up by several manufacturers. I hope any new entrant into the industry calculates where their customers will come from as the market is small and not already part and parcel of the existing legacy camper manufacturers like Lance, Northwood Arctic Fox, Northern Lite, Northstar, Hallmark, Adventure/Eagle Cap, Outfitter, Phoenix, etc. And most recently Ford has partnered with a truck camper manufacturer that will have Ford's image, marketing and advertising backing and perhaps dealer distribution network.

Thanks, I missed that part. All I saw were drawings of some future campers. Had just finished watching Shark Tank, where a common question is " tell me about your actual sales ".