A new player is coming to Goshen, Indiana. Close to the Elkhart County Fairgrounds, Brinkley RV began construction in May on three production facilities on their 252-acre site. Construction is supposed to be completed by late this year.

A new Player is coming to the RV Market.

Now even though this is a new RV Manufacturer, the ownership is really not. Ron Fenech is a former senior group president for THOR; and was a co-founder of Grand Design RV. Mr Fenech will serve in an advisory role while the day-to-day operations are going to be handled by the other three co-owners of Brinkley: Ryan Thwaits, formerly of Red Rock Supply and Indiana Transport, and Nate Goldenberg and Micah Staley, both formerly of Grand Design.

So as you can see there is quite a bit of Grand Design experience in this new endeavor. As a result, I’m curious how that is going to play out.

When Grand Design hit the scene in 2013, most dealerships saw the difference in quality with that company. Now after being on the scene for almost ten years and having been purchased by Winnebago, there are many stories of how the quality has slipped. So I am wondering what are the differences this new company will bring to the table.

If you ask Travel Trailer Owners what type of improvements they would love to see on new trailers, you will get answers like:

A Stronger Roof Construction with a Bed-liner type spray-on surface.

More reliable slide room technology.

Walls that cannot de-laminate ( Azdel construction on all walls and floor)

Standard 12 volt refrigerators only – no propane.

Stronger trailer frames.

Higher rated Axles and better quality suspension.

Decent major brand Tires

A Better Warranty and Service Network.

I am curious to see if Brinkley will do anything different than the competition or if this will just be Grand Design part 2. The RV World needs someone new to shake things up and take the construction standards to a new level. For too long consumers have just had to gut through the shoddy workmanship and cheap components. Many new RV owners decide to do repairs on their own rig while under warranty because they don’t want to lose the use of their RV for months at a dealership. It’s time that someone does for the RV market, what the Japanese auto industry did for the American car makers.

We all know that the RV market tries to hit a price point they feel the customer will feel comfortable with. However, what they don’t seem to realize is that RV owners are more than willing to pay more for better quality.

It will be interesting to see where this goes. As soon as there is more information about this company I will be back to talk about it.