Quote:
Originally Posted by cameront120  ...Airstream needs to start looking at bringing these lighter, nicely designed trailers to the North American market... |
at a 100,000$ for a 22 ft unit? no thanks.
they are doing this, and it is called the safari sport (now just safari) and so far has sold POORLY...
it's not just a matter of redoing the electrical, as stuart has pointed out and as the euro thread shows...
the FRAME company doesn't do business in the states.
the BRAKES are wire/cable and surge design, and there are NO vendors for the axles, hubs or brakes.
there is NO crapper plumbing. building a n.a. trailer WITHOUT holding tanks would be silly.
the ball is the WRONG size, the axle isn't ideally positioned for n.a. travel...
the hvac systems are different enough to not be ideal and imagine trying to get service on parts NO ONE stocks or repairs.
there are 20 or so of these issues that would need to be addressed.
and they HAVE DONE THAT ALREADY in the sport line..
having seen BOTH euro and safari sport in the flesh, the physical dimensions are virtually identical.
the interior of a sport could be tweaked to be MORE LIKE the euro...
but given how FEW they've sold in 2 years, retooling for such a small segment is silly.
IF they did, the next cry would be for LESS EXPENSIVE versions of those small, trendy, ultra urban, hightech units....
this really is JUST as bruno describes, wanting the greener grass, just OVER the fence (or rainbow)...
there are LOTS of light weight, less expensive, tow-with-a-car trailers...
a/s has not proven capable (OR interested) of competing in this segment,
the margins are VERY LOW and the customer base is different
their production facility is NOT geared for the volume needed to be profitable, and so on....
andyR has got another forum for many of these little guys, and the folks there seem friendly...
Molded Lightweight Fiberglass Travel Trailers
cheers
2air'