Grand Design, Tiffin to Share Open House Site

Tiffin Motorhomes Inc. and Grand Design RV announced today (June 5) they are joining forces at the upcoming Elkhart County RV Open House Week set for Sept. 17-19 in Elkhart, Ind.

According to a press release, the companies will be displaying on an approximately 15-acre lot leased through Elkhart-based real estate firm Northland Corp. along the “gauntlet” on Executive Parkway – the primary feeder leading to Thor Industries Inc.’s massive display area at the RV/MH Hall of Fame.

“We are thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to share a display space with Tiffin Motorhomes,” said Don Clark, president and co-owner of Middlebury, Ind.-based Grand Design RV. “No other motorhome company can rival the reputation that Bob Tiffin and his team have crafted in their 41 years of building class A motor homes. Tiffin Motorhomes has set and raised the bar for service expectations in our industry.”

Clark noted that Grand Design and Tiffin share “many of the same customer and dealer-focused business philosophies,” including:

• Both companies believe in the concept of no clone manufacturing.

• They practice the policy of single-point distribution (partnering with dealers by having only one dealer per market).

• Tiffin and Grand Design employ fair dealer orientated advertising policies and customer driven warranty policies.

Clark continued, “It should be no surprise that Tiffin and Grand Design share many of the same dealer relationships throughout the nation. Now dealers can see all the new ‘cutting edge’ creations during the Open House.”

Tim Tiffin, general manager of the Red Bay, Ala.-based builder, noted, “Tiffin Motorhomes is excited to participate in the ElElkhart County RV Open House Week this September. We are very pleased to share a display space with Grand Design RV, the industry’s up-and-coming travel trailer and fifth-wheel company. This event continues to gain momentum and we feel the need to be represented there to show off our new 2014 lineup. It is our desire to spend more time with our dealers and build on our great relationships.”

Grand Design RV Employs LCI Correct Track

Goshen, Ind.-based Lippert Components Inc. (LCI) announced that Grand Design Recreational Vehicles LLC is now installing the Correct Track trailer alignment system as standard equipment on its Solitude fifth-wheel trailers.

According to a press release, the patent pending Correct Track alignment system is integrated into the suspension system of the recreational vehicle chassis. Correct Track enables the manufacturer or dealer to customize the wheel alignment to the end user’s specific requirements.

Out-of-alignment RV and trailer suspensions can create excessive tire wear and failure. The resulting vibration can cause excess wear of other components such as electronics and appliances. Correct trailer alignment can improve gas mileage and reduce wear on suspension components.

“This is just another innovation Grand Design is offering consumers,” said Grand Design General Manager Marc Hauser. “The LCI Correct Track system will allow our owners to fine tune their alignment for years to come.”

“We are extremely pleased that Grand Design has adopted the Correct Track trailer alignment system,” said LCI Vice President of Sales Andy Murray. “This product will help Grand Design owners take full advantage of the latest development in RV suspension technology and benefit from improved towing performance.”

Grand Design Upping Production, Work Force

The RV industry is on its way back in Indiana, and Elkhart County has a lot to do with it.

According to a Goshen News report, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence made a brief appearance in Middlebury Thursday (April 18) afternoon to help celebrate the recent expansion plans of up-and-coming RV manufacturer Grand Design RV LLC.

Surrounded by Grand Design executives, employees, team members, suppliers and their family members, Grand Design President and co-owner Don Clark announced that in the next 60 days the company plans to launch its second line of RVs — a launch which could potentially bring as many as 120 new jobs to the county.

Started by RV veterans Clark and brothers Ron and Bill Fenech in late 2012, Grand Design’s first RV unit, the extended-stay fifth-wheel known as the “Solitude,” rolled off the line on Jan. 15 to rave reviews.

“Our entry into the marketplace, the “Solitude,” has been very well received by the retail buyers — so well received that I am pleased to announce that in the next 60 days we will begin manning and staffing for Line 2,” Clark said. “Our Line 2 will produce a smaller, mid-profile fifth-wheel. After the ramping up stage of Line 2, we intend to bring approximately 120 more jobs to the community. These are exciting times for Grand Design.”

Clark told RVBUSINESS.com that Grand Design currently has 87 U.S. dealers selling the Solitude line. “As production keeps up, we’re starting to bring more dealers into the fold,” he said, adding that the company had shipped more than 200 units to its dealer body.

Ron Fenech noted, “We’ll add more dealers. You know, maybe by the end of the year, I could see us being at maybe 120 or 130 dealers, and we’ll have three product lines up and running for the 2014 season. That’s probably a pretty accurate projection of where we’re going to be.”

He told RVBUSINESS.com that good timing factored into the company’s growth with the industry on an upswing. “Yeah, I think that dealers are pretty optimistic,” Fenech said. “It’s always a battle. There is tremendous competition. But the timing never worried me. I just felt it was a good time for us because we had a great story to tell and I think we bring something different to the marketplace. We’re benefiting, though, by the fact that the dealers are optimistic and that allows them to make choices a little bit easier.”

According to the Goshen News, Pence termed Grand Design’s expansion plans as “exciting news for all of Indiana as well,” especially when coupled with Grand Design’s recent pledge to bring as many as 500 new jobs to the area by 2016. That’s a pledge the company has to keep if it wants to take advantage of up to $2.85 million in conditional tax credits and up to $200,000 in training grants recently provided to the company by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. Such tax credits are performance-based, meaning until Hoosiers are hired, the company is not eligible to claim incentives.

“When I was first elected governor, I said we were going to make job creation job one, and today is a great example of how Hoosier entrepreneurs and Hoosier workers are coming together to create new jobs and opportunities and are bringing Indiana back,” Pence said. “Grand Design launched in the fall of 2012 and has been on a tear ever since, with plans to produce more than 1,750 units this year. We appreciate their commitment to quality and to service. This is a great moment for Elkhart County and the RV industry.”

Pence went on to thank the company for its decision to locate its headquarters and manufacturing operations in Indiana and for throwing its support behind the workers of Elkhart County.

“The desire of this company to set up a “Grand Design” here in Middlebury in Elkhart County is a tribute to many things, but it’s mostly to the skill, to the character and the work ethic of the people of Indiana, and particularly of Elkhart County,” Pence said. “We look forward to your continuing and abounding success. You are proving today two things: the Hoosier RV industry is coming back, and Indiana is open for business.”

According to the Goshen News, Elkhart County Council member Dave Hess also had some words of thanks and encouragement for the fledgling RV company during Thursday’s gathering.

“Things have turned the corner, and things are improving in Elkhart County, and I think it’s a real testament to the outlook and the vision of these fine business people we’ve got here, and the fact that they chose Elkhart County not only to locate their industry, but to grow and expand their industry as well,” Hess said. “They could have probably gone anywhere they wanted to, but they chose Elkhart County because of our entrepreneurial spirit, our expertise in the RV business, and most of all, you people standing right out here, the workers in this county. I think it’s because of companies like this that the future of Elkhart County is very bright.”

Clark also anticipates hiring up to 10 more people to work the original line.

“Today is a great example of how Hoosier businesses and Hoosier workers are coming together to create new jobs and opportunities and are bringing Indiana back but it’s companies like this that are making it happen,” Pence says.

Anyone interested in one of the new positions all you have to do is stop by Grand Design RV’s office in Middlebury to apply.

Grand Design Announcing New Jobs Thursday

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence will join executives from Grand Design RV Thursday (April 18) at the company’s manufacturing complex in Middlebury, Ind., for 2 p.m. announcement regarding hundreds of new jobs.

The South Bend Tribune reported that the startup towable builder, which has been in business for about four months, celebrated both the hiring of its 100th employee and the making of its 100th RV on March 19. At that celebration, company officials said another line would be added in the near future which would mean more jobs.

The company currently builds the Solitude, an extended-stay, luxury fifth-wheel trailer. Grand Design officials also have said they envision the company eventually reaching 500 employees.

Cam Boyer Announced as ‘Grand Design’ CFO

Middlebury, Ind.-based startup builder Grand Design RV announced today (March 20) the appointment of Cameron Boyer as CFO, according to a press release.

“The overwhelming dealer and retail customer response to our Solitude extended stay fifth-wheels has created the need for this position,” said Don Clark, president and co-owner of Grand Design. “We are thrilled to be able to attract someone of Cam’s exceptional qualifications. His unique ability and diversified background makes Cam ideal for this position. His strong work ethic, strategic mind set and leadership skills will help in Grand Design’s accelerated growth.”

Boyer brings eight years of RV industry experience and 10 years in the marine sector. Most recently, he spent four years at Thor Industries Inc.’s Dutchmen RV division, first as the company’s vice president of finance, and later serving as president.

“I am extremely excited to be associated with such a dynamic organization,” said Boyer. “Grand Design has assembled a ‘who’s who’ of the RV industry team. I am humbled to have been chosen for this position and look forward to helping continue their already amazing start.”

 

Grand Design RV Touts ‘New Business Model’

Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from an article appearing in a special Business & Industry Magazine published by The Elkhart Truth, based in the RV industry’s hub in Indiana’s Elkhart County. To read the entire article click here.

A group of local RV industry veterans is betting their reputations, their time and their money on a new business model for the industry.

“This is putting our money where our mouth is, and we never looked back,” said Don Clark, president of Grand Design RV. Clark founded the company alongside brothers Bill Fenech and Ron Fenech.

They left major positions in Thor Industries Inc. in the second half of 2011 and decided to start over. “We knew we wanted to create a special company, something that’s going to matter to the industry,” Clark said.

They have a 67-acre site north of Middlebury, Ind., with 450,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Right now they have exactly one product with exactly one floorplan. They have exactly one dealer in any given market.

At the most, they plan to have six product lines, one for each market segment they’ll target.

That’s a big change from most of the industry, which sometimes has a dealer for one line just a few miles away from another dealer offering a line that may have a different name, but may be the exact same product made by the same company.

To read the entire article click here.

 

 

Grand Design Delivers 1st Solitude to Dandy RV

After a solid Florida RV SuperShow, startup manufacturer Grand Design Recreational Vehicles has shipped its first unit — the extended-stay 38-foot Solitude fifth-wheel — to Dandy RV Superstores in Anniston, Ala.

Grand Design, founded in October by industry veterans Don Clark and brothers Ron and Bill Fenech, made its retail debut at the Tampa show in a Lazydays RV Center booth earlier this month at a prominent display that drew a steady stream of consumers throughout the event.

”It was the grand debut of Grand Design,” Clark told RVBUSINESS.com. ”I’m pretty confident that we hit the nail on the head. We’ve got a real winner. It exceeded our expectations (in Tampa) and we had high expectations.”

Middlebury, Ind.-based Grand Design’s first product came together quickly after the three principals’ non-competition agreements expired last year with Thor Industries Inc.

”You have all these ideas in mind and then you have to put them down on paper, and then you’ve got to make sure it works,” Clark said. ”(General Manager) Marc Hauser and our production and engineering staffs did a great job in a short amount of time.”

Clark and both Fenechs specifically attended the Florida show to interface with potential buyers. ”You have a lot of experienced buyers in Tampa,” Clark said. ”They know what they want. All three of us wanted to come here to get some feedback and ideas about improvements we could make to the coach.”

With the early success of the 38-foot Solitude, 35- and 36-foot floorplans will follow quickly with MSRPs that range from the low- to high-$60,000s, depending on equipment.

”Eventually, we will have six or seven Solitude floorplans when we are done,” Clark said.

At the same time, Grand Design has escalated the development of its next two brands which are expected to go into production later this year, Clark reported.

Grand Design RV Enjoys Industry Honeymoon

Grand Design RV Co., the new towable manufacturing company currently being set up at a 67-acre complex near the Indiana Toll Road north of Middlebury, Ind., has created plenty of positive industry buzz recently – a fact that’s perhaps most interesting because the newly founded company has yet to build its first unit.

In fact, as Grand Design’s three co-owners — all former executives of Jackson Center, Ohio-based Thor Industries Inc. — were introducing themselves to a crowd of more than 350 at an introductory meeting last week (Nov. 28) at the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association’s (RVIA) 50th Annual National RV Trade Show in Louisville, Ky., a prototype of Grand Design’s first Solitude-brand, extended stay fifth-wheel lineup was still in the works at the firm’s 400,000-square-foot plant near the Michigan state line.

And now that Grand Design co-owner Ron Fenech, former president of Thor’s RV Group, is back in northern Indiana after a hectic week at the Louisville Show, he told RVBUSINESS.com that he and his partners, brother Bill Fenech and long-time associate Don Clark, are pretty pleased with the way things are going.

“We were very excited by the reaction to the news that we were coming back into the marketplace, but more importantly the dealer reaction to how we were going to position the company in regard to products that we were going to introduce, and, most significantly, the fact that we were going to pick one dealer per market who would have our full line of Grand Design products and that we would not be building sister or cloned products under the Grand Design name,” says Fenech, who played a key role in building Goshen, Ind.-based Keystone RV Co. into a national player as well as Thor’s largest single division. “All the dealers seem to be reacting very positively to it, and that — more than anything really — is gratifying at this point.”

In fact, Fenech, whose new firm has begun signing up selected dealerships, says the positive reception at Grand Design’s Louisville Show meeting wasn’t any different than what they’ve been receiving elsewhere throughout the country.

“Yeah, part of it I think is that there was some anticipation that we would be coming back into the marketplace,” he added. “We’ve built a lot of relationships over the years. We think that dealers recognize they can trust us and they believe in our track record. So they’re giving us a chance to talk to them seriously about joining forces.

“Part of it I think that is rather appealing is that we’re taking things back to how the business was done 25 or 30 years ago when companies had one dealer in a market. And I think in today’s market with so much Internet shopping, the fact that there’s fewer dealers in the market and credit isn’t flowing as it was back in the early 2000s that we are providing a way for dealers to build margin with the distribution strategy we’ll put in place. And I think that’s what they’re reacting to.”