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Unless trailers start being made out of super-lightweight plastics that hybrids can tow around with ease, I imagine the era of $4/gal. gas is going to really shrink this market.
CAUTION: Here comes a pipe dream...
That Airstream would someday get the kind of dynamic CEO that Apple has in Steve Jobs - that they would stand on the broad shoulders of Wally Byam and reinvent the trailer industry. Whereas aluminum and monocoque design has represented the last 70 years, an iMac-like show stopper could usher in an entirely brand new kind of trailer and place Airstream decades ahead of its nearest competitor.
I'm not talking about a T@b or Basecamp, and I'm not talking about teaming up with DWR or offering new fabric choices every year. No teardrop, no watered down version of what we enjoy today in our full-size trailers.
No, I mean an honest-to-goodness, built-from-scratch, CAD designed, wind tunnel optimized, nanotube-strong yet carbon fiber-light travel trailer.
Perhaps with wheels that have the same regenerating braking power as my Prius for recharging the batteries - maybe a flexible body that leans back at 60 mph to flatten in the wind, but is perfectly rigid when standing still. Or a "partial propulsion system" so the trailer would help push the rig along, rather than just drag behind as dead weight.
We need thinking like the stuff you see in Wired magazine - a whole new dept. in Jackson Center - designers that can tip their hats to an idea that's worked for over 7 decades, but not be afraid to employ cutting edge technology to create something entirely new.
That might not only save themselves, or invigorate the RV market - it could potentially influence the entire stagnant auto industry that's giving us the same MPG's as the 1960's.
Mr. Byam may have said to not make changes, only improvements, but with all due respect: he ain't here. If he were, I'd like to think he'd be patting young designers on the shoulder and encouraging them to move forward using every last new material and technical advance at their disposal.
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