Ep 14 Justin Humphreys Airstream VP of Sales

In this episode, Hank Strange talks with Justin Humphreys, VP of sales at Airstream, about the iconic brand and the rise of class B RVs. They explore the unique features of the Airstream Atlas and discuss the company's approach to quality control and customer feedback. Also, they delve into the impact of social media on customer feedback and the future of renewable batteries and electric vans in the RV industry.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Come back to the Vanisore podcast, which we dolive usually on Thursdays.

(00:05):
And, this is gonna be episode number 14 here atVanisore podcast.
Excuse me.
We are exploring class b RVs Overlanding AndVan Life.
And, Like I said, this is episode 14 of theshow, and I actually have my friend, Justin
Humphries, Here from Airstream.

(00:26):
He is the VP of sales at Airstream, Justin.
Welcome to the show, my friend.
How are you?
Great.
Thanks for having me.
Oh, thanks for coming on, man.
It's, it's always fun talking to you.
We were just talking about that in thebackground.
Let me close.
Let me make sure I got some wind those closedoff here.
So I don't get in trouble with the internet.
Alright.
There we go.

(00:46):
So, as I was saying, anyone who's out therethat's joining us live, if you guys have
questions for Justin.
He's the the VP, like I just said, of salesfrom Airstream.
Please let me know the questions.
Justin, usually, what I like to do here isstart off with, our guests, you know, telling
the folks out there, who they are, how theycame to be doing what it is they do.

(01:09):
So I'll let you go for that.
Yeah.
No.
Thank you.
I've kind of been an RV brat my whole life.
My my father worked for RVIA, which representsall the, manufacturers.
Okay.
So it's RV RV industry association.
There's not to be confused with RVDA, which isRV dealer association.
Oh, okay.
So one represents dealers.

(01:30):
The other represents manufacturers andsuppliers.
So I grew up around RVs all my life.
Dad had a couple pop ups.
He'd bring home some RVs.
They would have some loaners.
We weird, the association is based near DC,like a lot of associations are.
So, a lot of manufacturers would loan RVs, toRBIA to use for political reasons or for some

(01:54):
type of advocacy program.
So I got exposed, at an early age and justquickly fell in love with it.
I love the time I got to spend with my dad, mybrothers, my sisters.
So when I got, out of school, I I I said, hey,if, you know, what manufacturer would you
suggest?
And
Mhmm.
Of
course, he picked one that was nearby, a plantthat was only 30 minutes away.

(02:15):
Didn't want me to leave to go to Indiana.
So, Fleetwood actually had a little prowlertravel trailer plant in Maryland, Western
Maryland, a little town called Hancock,Maryland.
Oh, wow.
And, you started with Fleetwood.
You just start it for sales.
You started right at the shipping trailers outto dealers and supporting reps in the field.
And Mhmm.
That that took off and kinda worked my waythrough management.

(02:38):
Quickly went over to the motor home side of thebusiness to flee with motor homes.
Which took me to Charlotte.
I was a rep down there for many years.
And then, got into management pretty young age.
And, my last 6 years it, Fleetwood.
I was VP of the American Coach division.
A luxury big class a diesel pushers.

(02:59):
Oh, okay.
So, you know, it was really interesting atAmerican Coach because we only had, I don't
know, maybe 40 dealers in North America.
A very customer centric.
We had factory service.
Okay.
Very involved with the club.
Every deal mattered because, you know, thoseare bigger at a really big customer base in
NASCAR, because the product was great for thatfor that use case.

(03:23):
Mhmm.
Made it through the recession with them.
Backfleet would end up going through,bankruptcy chapter 11.
The only plant that made it out of that was aluckily was the one I was at.
In Decatur Indiana where American Coach wasbased.
Mhmm.
So a private equity firm bought us, and Ireally got, kind of a good exposure to private

(03:43):
equity, both the good and maybe not So good.
But
they take a little shorter view versus, youknow, Fleetville and I started there.
They've been in business 50 years.
They were taking the longer view.
For customers.
And Right.
And at that point, Airstream called and said,hey.
We've, our head of sales is leaving after 32years.
And having been through a company that had gonethrough quite a bit of downsizing obviously,

(04:09):
when you went to chapter 11, it was nice tothink, man, that's kinda cool to work for a
company that had somebody who worked there for30 some years.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And what I realized when I got here is that'skind of like, average.
We've had people retire here a 55 year service,50 year service.
Wow.
It's just a
At at air stream, you saying.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Bear Strange.

(04:30):
So coming here, I was really attracted by that30 year plus, but then, quickly found out that
that was kind of the norm.
What was interesting is a lot of the dynamicsare the same and a lot are different.
Air stream has such a lifestyle brand, kind oflike Harley, where it appeals to this customer
that is outside the RV industry.

(04:51):
That's very recognizable, especially yourtrailers.
And then
Mhmm.
But and it has, you know, on our vans, we onlyhave, like, 70 dealers in North America, to US
and Canada.
So when you compare that to, like, a Winnebagoor, you know, like, a Thor motor coach, they
have 100 of dealers.
So we have a smaller dealer network very highend, very big club, customer club, factory

(05:13):
service, all those things I was very used tocoming from American Coach.
Mhmm.
But what I wasn't used to is the size.
You know?
So taking taking, you know, I never had toworry about that, and we're cut forty five
footer slide out every weekend.
Yeah.
So that that was right.
I was gonna say that's interesting.
The American Coach thing.
So at that time when you're at American Coach,they weren't using that name to cover class

(05:37):
b's.
It was only ace.
That's right.
Yeah.
We were just building class a's at the time.
And, You know, so coming to Airstream, I wasvery, I guess familiar with the, the materials
and kind of the luxury touches, but it wasn'tused to the smaller spaces.
Mhmm.
And, it was interesting.

(05:57):
Over the years, a lot of marincoach owners havebought interstates, you know, that's it's kinda
their last mile RV, if you will.
And, and, you know, the trailers, gosh, man, weappeal to crazy celebrities and just other
countries just love it because it'sAmericanness.
It's really open my eyes to what a brand is.
Yeah.

(06:17):
It's iconic with a doubt Lola was just saying,what what did she say here?
Since 1930, wow, I didn't, realize Airstreamwas that old.
You you if you have a air stream from 1930,that's very valuable.
It is.
It is absolutely.
You know, it's it was fun.
We got here and, man, we took off.
I started May of 2011, so I'm coming up on 13years.

(06:40):
Mhmm.
And, we we've been on a heck of a run.
In fact, I'm I'm standing in our new traveltrailer plants over 700,000 square feet.
Mhmm.
We now have a museum that really chronicles ourstoried past.
And, you know, we're so much, we're known somuch for our trailers and as it should be, it's
really that iconic historical piece.

(07:00):
Mhmm.
But we're we're big into motor homes.
As you know, I mean, we've met several times atthe shows and, we're very proud of the of the
motor home space and you know, there is a tiein to the B vans and our trailers.
And not a lot of people know, but our trailers,we build the shell, and then everything fits
through the door.
So when we when we got to BBANS, it's kind ofvery natural because the BBAN from ProMaster or

(07:23):
from Sprinter is built.
And it was of course.
So it's it's a style of manufacturing earstreams very used to.
Mhmm.
When you have a company like, Thor Motor Coachor somebody to get into, they usually build
them inside out.
They put all of the cabinets in first.
The last thing they do is they put up thewalls.
So for them going to that manufacturing styleor others that have done that, it's a big leap

(07:44):
and It's a great segment for us.
We really we know small.
We know, luxury.
And, that's our position in the places.
We are gonna check every option there isavailable, and we're gonna give you everything
you can get in a big RV button is small.
Yeah.
You know, I I have some very good friends ofLola and myself, and they, I can never remember

(08:06):
exactly which trailer they own.
I know it's a it's a medium sized trailer.
It's not one of the super big ones, but that'sfascinating to me.
You know, you start you you've been in, the RVworld for so long.
And then you spent time at American Coach,which is I think American Coach is still

(08:27):
building the class a's because they did do b's,but recently, they actually decided because
they were using American Coach for the for thename for the bees.
So I think you have, like, Midwest Automotivethat was doing bees and then American Coach as
well.
And now they're going back to just beingMidwest Automotive because that American coach

(08:48):
name was so iconic with the class a's.
So Yeah.
I You know, I kinda keep an eye on that justbecause I've I've spent so much with Fleet some
much time with Fleetwood and American Coach.
And the way I understood it is the same privateequity firm bought Midwest.
So they had Midwest build branded Americancoaches.
So Mhmm.
Because I asked my former, teammates, hey.

(09:09):
Are you guys building B vans in the big class aplan.
And and at the time, they weren't.
They were they were utilizing in Wes.
So that that was kind of a big leap for them,but I think they saw just what I saw when I was
kinda getting out of that business.
The the big class a's are just they've neverrecovered from the 0 809 numbers.
The rest of the industry has.

(09:31):
And, I just think it's they're more and moreexpensive.
It's tougher to find places to store them.
They're intimidating for most.
And, they're wonderful products.
Yeah.
They're amazing.
Yeah.
But but they're just they're getting less andless out of favor.
With the public.
And, I think they'll always have a place.
It's just gonna become more and more niche thistime with.

(09:51):
Yeah.
I agree.
I think class a's are fantastic.
And they're very big.
Like you said, I think NASCAR folks, a lot ofdifferent racing and sports that have to travel
around in a circuit.
Hollywood is very big for that as well forhaving, like, the big movie stars on the set.
I think their air stream is also, very wellknown for that.

(10:15):
The the, you know, and a lot of folks out therewould retire and get a class a and then travel
around the country the big issue for itnowadays is cost of fuel, figuring out where to
park, maintenance, all those kinds of things.
And So we see so many people coming from classa into the class b sector to stay on the road

(10:36):
but make it affordable And then you growing upin the middle of all of that and seeing all of
that working in that, what did you think aboutthat transition, that big transition you seen
from a's to b's.
And then b's have taken off.
I don't know if it's the top segment at thispoint, but they've gotten really big in the
last I don't know, maybe 10, 5 5 to 10 years, Ithink.

(10:57):
Right?
Yeah.
They they have.
I'd have to look and see where they compete.
With the other segments.
Class Cs will certainly be larger, but, youknow, I I kind of agreed with the shift.
In fact, when I got to air stream, I bought aninterstate.
I have had well, I have 3 kids at the time.
They were teenagers.
I go back and forth to visit my family in WestVirginia from Ohio.

(11:18):
It was about a 6 hour drive, and is socomfortable.
They they become the ultimate touring coach.
I mean, you got your own bathroom, so the wifedoesn't like to stop at rest areas, especially
in the public rest areas.
You can make your own meals.
Mhmm.
And then you've got this I call it the Swissarmy knife of RVs.
You can take it anywhere.
You got the benefits of the class a, but justin a smaller package.
Mhmm.
If you're gonna go live in one spot for a monthevery year, you might consider another class of

(11:42):
RV.
But if
you're on the go and you wanna flex able unit.
It's just makes a ton of sense.
And and, you know, I thought, I thought theride I remember when I got it, I thought, okay.
Well, we'll see how the ride is, but it's abins.
Like, they put in in and the other provider'sFord and Ram, they're putting in their
automotive features into these what will usedto be commercial vans.

(12:05):
So in the past, you had these Ford and Chevyvans that looked like, you know, back in the 18
when you and I were growing up, They just theyweren't evolving, and they've really stepped up
their game on these Hank.
And I just think it's been
been
a game Strange.
And I can see why the shift has occurred sure.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
You know, it's, to me, the the the there's justso much here.

(12:31):
I can talk about that know, the fact that weonly have an hours is, we'll definitely have to
have you come back and get into, all thedifferent aspects of it.
And what I one of the things I was gonna say isthat with air stream, you guys are doing also a
b b plus or c.
Like, I think you'd go up to the level of whatI would really categorize as a C, but I know

(12:52):
for marketing terms, we're we're calling it a Bplus.
And you could live you could live for a monthin that in a in a seat, especially with all the
different, comforts you guys put in them.
You know, we we we built the Atlas, which wecall it a b plus because it doesn't have the
cab over like the
the
c's have, but it is a way, which is a classychassis.

(13:14):
Mhmm.
And I think coming from American Coach, if Iwas seeing the Atlas, it would seem tiny.
But after spinning a my time 5 years with airstream at the time, 5 or 6 years, which is B
vans, going from a B van to an Atlas.
It's it's like, wow.
This is a ton of space.
It has a slide out, have the basement, has adry bath.
It's got a rear bath.
It's nice and large.

(13:34):
You got the Murphy bed.
It's very comfortable.
I'm, I'm very involved with the WallyBiomeClub, the air stream club, and I went and
stayed in that.
I I used an Atlas 3 years ago.
The rally was down outside of Nashville.
Mhmm.
And my wife wasn't able to go.
It was absolutely comfortable is.
Yeah.
I
mean, it was unbelievable, especially, youknow, you and I big guys.

(13:57):
Right.
Getting in the shower wasn't making anycompromises.
Bed was too big.
Slide out was nice.
So you're right.
I mean, if you're
For 1 or 2, it's good.
Yeah.
I think.
Not not the whole family, not all five of youguys.
No.
No.
No.
No.
It's I think for a couple, it's it's it'sdefinitely, you can take longer trips.
And

(14:17):
that's kind of our answer to that, but I'mtelling it's got auto gen start features and
air ride and Our the way we paying our Atlas isway better than what we were even doing a
parent coach at the time.
I don't know what they're doing today, butseveral layers all cut and buff You can't feel
the lines of between the colors.
We take a very intentional design approach onthat product to make it look like a bigger

(14:38):
sprinter.
We actually just size everything up and thepaint actually mimics the Mercedes Benz window
lines
Yeah.
Both on the back and the side.
So We like customers to look at that and go,wow.
That looks like a Mercedes van, but it's just abigger version of it, which is and a lot of the
industry just does all the swirlies and grabfix.

(14:59):
And Mhmm.
We like to make it more automotive and
Yeah.
Simple.
I think that the, air stream DNA is definitely,on the outside as well as the inside.
Before we go into the next segment here, let metake a a quick second here to acknowledge
because we do have a live audience So I willdefinitely, give some shout outs.
I noticed that Scott from Go Small Live Largeis out there, so he was saying hi to us.

(15:24):
He said, howdy to Hank and Justin and Hi Lola.
So there you go.
Thanks, Scott.
So awesome channel for you guys to check out.
I think I did his live a couple weeks ago.
Do you know, Scott?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We've met.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's awesome.
We've got some other comments in here.

(15:46):
When you go live like this, you get somecomments that may be a little, negative,
Justin.
I don't know if you want to, we could we can,you know, we can deal with some of those if
you're okay with that.
Sure.
You know, let me see here.
So I'm just I'm just going down.
So travel dreamer says, question, how are youable to protect your quality while under the

(16:08):
Thor umbrella.
So I knew that was a question that was gonnacome up here.
I think you guys are under the Thor.
Do you wanna explain what that relationship isan answer to this question.
I think you've probably seen that before.
Yeah.
I think there's a lot.
And I'm glad it, the question was asked becauseI think there's a lot of misunderstanding on
how that relationship works.
So
Mhmm.
4 was founded, with the purchase of air streamin 1980, There was a gentleman named Wade

(16:33):
Thompson, t h, and his partner, Peter Orthwine,O r, the creative Thor.
And their first purchase was air stream forabout a dollar.
At the time Beatrice Foods owned air stream, ithadn't been profitable.
They just wanted it off their balance sheet.
They made
it all.
Okay.
Mhmm.
And, and it was profitable the next year.
So I think it was this big corporation whodidn't understand, we the the RV business and

(16:57):
just you had 2 good entrepreneurs come in andbuy it.
So I always joke around with all of our sistercompanies to say, we eventually just bought you
but, so, so yeah, the quality is a 100% us.
Have never I've been here 13 years.
I've never had Thor come in and go, hey.
You need to cut cost here.
You need to do this differently.

(17:19):
And in fact, it's been the exact opposite.
The plan that I'm in here for travel trailersis now the largest plant under one roof, maybe
in the world for RVs, certainly in NorthAmerica.
I mean, it's it's a massive investment when youinclude all the machineries.
It's the biggest investment Thors ever made.
Mhmm.
Their only requirement is this explain why youneed it on one page.

(17:42):
If you need two pages on the capitalexpenditure request, then you don't need it.
Okay.
So it is unbelievable.
We've added stamping machines, routers,lamination machines, water booths, improved
painting.
We're right now in the middle of recession andthe and I say in the middle of recession
because we're in the RV industry.

(18:04):
Shipments have been off 50% this year in the RVindustry.
Mhmm.
So that's that's considered recession for ourindustry.
Now air Strange outperform the industry but,obviously, Thor is big in the RV space, and
they just recently approved a capitalexpenditure on a laser cutter.
Because we could get the tolerances down toeven further.
So

(18:24):
if there's ever a quality issue at Airstreamand there are, we're not perfect.
They're hand they're handcrafted.
You need to blame Ericstream because Thor isthere as a resource and they're adding IT and
legal and some, human resources, but largelyall of our product plans, all of our pricing.
We don't even need our pricing approval for.
Mhmm.
Now I I would imagine if we stop sending thembox.

(18:47):
It might show up and say
what's going on.
So that's what actually
I I think it's easier to control quality whenyou have control of your own destiny.
Versus if Fleetwood, we had a corporation outin California that would tell us and dictate
things to us.
Thor wants us to make decisions here at theplant because we're closest to the market and

(19:07):
we understand what the customer, expectationsare.
Yeah.
So just for clarification here on the history,when did Thor come into the picture?
In my brain, I'm thinking 9 1880, but, is thatwhat you said?
Wow.
Okay.
So they're
known as a 43 years.
Yeah.
I've had I've had, people at shows come up andsay, oh my wouldn't it?

(19:28):
Man, Thor just bought air stream.
I went out and Yeah.
That's what I've always thought, Justin.
You just clarified that for me because Ithought this happened 5 years ago.
No.
No.
No.
Long long time ago, and they're great.
Having a real strong corporate culture,Fleetwood, and there's a lot of people I love
at Fleetwood, and I love that time Matt Fleet,but it was very strong corporate culture with a

(19:50):
100 Acre Campus in Southern California,massive.
Yeah.
The corporation here at at Thor is very little.
They push all those decisions down.
So if
if you have a a quality issue with the brand ofThor that you have, whether it's J code
or Yeah.
Airstream, yeah, mini call.
It's really an
ear fault.
We're gonna take a quick break We're gonna beright back here.

(20:12):
So as you guys might have already heard, Lolaand myself are brand ambassadors for Sunshine
State RV.
And as Vanosaurus, I wanna take this moment toencourage anyone who is in the market for a
class b van to start their journey with SSRV.
Sunshine State RVs specializes in selling classB vans and B plus RVs.

(20:34):
That is the reason why they are the number onedealer in all of the state of Florida.
Number 3 in the whole United States.
SSRV will fly you right to their location inGainesville, Florida.
They'll give you a very detailed and thoroughwalk through of your van, and they'll give you
a 2 night stay at a local campground so you canget used to your van.
You don't like that, you can actually havehands free delivery anywhere in the United

(20:58):
States of your RV.
We bought our coachman biar from Sunshine StateRV 2 years ago.
And over the past 2 years, we've seen how theytreat customers when it comes to warranty side.
Their service team is great.
Whether you bought it from them or not, everyperson that comes in there gets the same
service and care when it comes to warrantyrepair.
The same service, attention, and care.

(21:19):
And their team does a great job getting youback on the road safely.
So if you guys are in the market for a B or Bplus fan, consider Sunshine State RV.
We've got a link in the description that youguys can use to see their current inventory and
have someone get in with you.
Alright.
So we're back.
Let me let me get back.
So you know what, Justin?

(21:39):
I Hank, didn't remind you.
We've got, like, 20 minute segments.
So if you look down in the bottom, you can seea countdown.
I I I noticed that, right, as you
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You were you were really good with that.
So, listen, while we're on this subject here, IHank, you know, this is a deep subject.
So we've got another comment here from NewYork, New York.

(21:59):
I'll put his comment up.
He says I've met Justin in person.
He needs a very person, but air stream qualityis definitely going down the drain, bought a
brand new 24 x, and I'm disappointed with thequality and finish.
So, you know, look, I've I I want you to answerthat question, but, you know, I've seen when we
you and I have done videos, but I go to a lotof shows.

(22:21):
I've seen air stream Even we just, we just ranan ad here for Sunshine State RV, they don't
carry air stream, but they get air streams inthere all the time.
And, they're also, you know, I saw check themout whenever I see him.
So I but I'm not living with it.
So I don't understand myself where thequestions of quality and stuff like that come
from.

(22:41):
So I think this is a good subject for us totalk about.
I'll let you go for it.
Yeah.
No.
I mean, I hate to hear that.
And, you were certainly not perfect and theyare.
RVs are still largely built by hand.
Mhmm.
And if you think about building a home, you geta punchlet.
You you know, your contractor says, hey.
Here's a punch list for the 1st year.
Mhmm.

(23:01):
Which if you've ever gone through that, I'veI've built of new home.
And, now think about doing that and thendriving it down the road.
They're gonna have a a break in period forsure.
Yeah.
I think we're the I think most customers getthat.
So they're like, hey, that's that'sunderstanding.
Some don't.
Some don't go This is like a car, and I have acar, and it shouldn't have any issue zero at

(23:23):
all.
Oh, cars have issues.
And, yeah,
I've got several cars.
Yeah.
That's true.
But but cars are getting better where there'sthere's fewer and fewer of these big bigger
issues.
And I think that that's the problem.
If if the punch list, you run out of space forthe punch list, and it's unreasonable because
it's keeping me from camping Mhmm.
Where there's some other reason that, they saythat, then that then then that's true.

(23:46):
So we have, we have a whole quality team here.
We're tracking the metrics daily.
We audit throughout the plant.
So it's just not at the end that we inspect andfix.
We're auditing.
We have several gates throughout the process.
Okay.
We've also, obviously, survey customers.

(24:07):
So we have something called a 5 Rivers dealerstandards program.
But we're serving the customer, both on howthey're interacting with the dealer, but then
also how the product's interacting.
And then we take that feedback back to quality,and they get that feedback.
We also have a dealer quality council wheredealers who are, you know, there's they're
getting a repetitive nature of this.
PDI PDI ing the the units in the shop, and theycan they know which, which systems might be

(24:33):
having the most problems with.
We get that feedback back and we put that backinto the plant as well.
You know, we're I can tell you it's we do morethan the industry average, but I can say that
we're not we're not satisfied with that.
We're continuing to make investments.
I'll give you an example.
The industry, the RV industry basically thinksinspection is is largely the quality how how

(25:00):
you how you improve quality.
And inspection's important, but you gotta buildquality in and through lean manufacturing and
through good processes.
You basically have work instructions, and itsays, here's what you do.
Measure this.
It's gotta be this gap.
It's gotta you gotta test it.
So you build quality in the work instructions.
We have an entire standards team where they goout to every single installation and assembly

(25:24):
process, and we document the entire workinstructions, what all the quality checks are,
photos, everything else.
It's all on iPads, digital.
It's updated when the product Strange.
So that the the assembler is getting thatfirsthand and they know we can set the proper
expectations.
Also, the people.
So if they're sick and that person's notshowing

(25:45):
up.
Mhmm.
Somebody else has to step in.
They can refer back to those work instructionsand try to improve that.
Yeah.
So that was that was something I was gonna askyou about.
I've looked at a couple different factories outthere.
Haven't had the chance to see your class bfactory yet.
I would love to.
I think we're making plans for that.
Yeah.
But I think that is a big thing.

(26:05):
Right?
Like, does someone different come into thisevery day, or is it the same person?
You know, I think that's a big part of it.
But, yes, you have to have some kind ofstandards that go through and and regardless of
who's there, they're building to those sameexact standards.
Without a doubt.
And, you know, there's there's 3 legs to thestool for the customer at the end of the day.

(26:27):
Mhmm.
We have the biggest leg.
Obviously, we're manufacturing we need to buildquality.
We're also relying a lot on on suppliers.
So there's some key components that we reallyneed to make sure that they're meeting their
expectations.
And we have dealers making sure they track thisstuff and can repair it the first time.
And we're addressing it with all three schools.
We have the whole dealer standards program, 5rivet where we're it's all based on customer

(26:50):
feedback.
We also have a supplier 5 Ribt program wherethey have to meet certain quality standards,
delivery standards, That one's still kindagrowing.
Mhmm.
But, it's a real opportunity for the RVindustry as the supply base.
If you go to, like, automotive with the tier 1pliers and just incredible quality and and,

(27:11):
measurements.
We don't have that same thing in the industry.
They're they're usually smaller companies thatare feeding the RV space, but that doesn't mean
anything to the customer that has a brokenproduct.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
That's inside baseball when you feel back thecurtain.
I'll show you a's.
So we're we're we recognize it's a weakness.
We have our own challenges.
And then then we have vendor challenges, thenwe could have dealer challenges.

(27:33):
There's there's a lot of of links, in thatchain that could break.
And Yeah.
So, yeah, we we we and I I would encourage him.
My email is [e-mail].
Send me a note.
I'll connect you with one of owner relationsspecialist here, and we'll do our best to get
everything back tomorrow.
Absolutely.
I don't know if New York, New York is still outthere or if helped you out in any way.

(27:55):
I would definitely, regardless of who we talkto here, when you're talking to folks that are
buying, either vans or kind of RV.
Like you said, I think you said it was, like,three three legs on the stool.
I think you need to think about yes, the buildquality initially.
That dealer that you bought from as well shouldbe one of the first places that you go to to

(28:18):
help you out when you have these issues.
And then, of course, the company that youbought it from, you know, do they care, about
your issues.
Right?
Sometimes it's the does the company care?
Does the dealer care after they sold it to you,you know, and who's and who sold it to you as
well?
I think part of that, you know, when when Ilook at people who I've talked to that have

(28:38):
dealt with your dealerships, I've heard veryfew complaints from that side of it, right, I
think that's, like, a really, really importantpart of what's going on here because that's
where people are gonna go back to.
And then the network of that, because if you'reon the road and an issue comes up, you might
have bought it, let's say, in Connecticut, butnow you're in Florida.

(28:58):
You've gotta figure out how to get that fixed.
Yeah.
So there's a lot to I could unpack and geek outand nerd nerd out, but I'll try to, like, pick
a few things that you just talked about there.
So, dealers, we've gone to this exclusivestandalone model.
And, we only have 70 dealers in North America.

(29:19):
30 of them are now, air stream only.
That's all they sell.
So if every day you get up and sell and serviceair streams, you get pretty good at selling and
servicing air streams.
If you come in and you've got 10 differentlines that you're selling, 10 different
warranty phone calls you're trying to call as adealer to get technical support.
It have to be a jack of all trades master.
Now we want the master of 1, and I can tell youwhat we have, like, exclusive stand alones are

(29:41):
sales hey.
Here's a good bit of it.
Our sales are up, but then also our, customersatisfaction starts to go up as well.
So it's a good combination.
We're in in in the RV industry standard, youryour your biggest volume dealers are typically
not always but you're typically, not the bestcustomer satisfaction.
So we're addressing it through a channel.

(30:03):
We're really, really seeing a lot of attentionthere.
And all that stuff I was talking about on thequality side is important, and we're we're
doing that every day.
But but then we also recognize that other legto the tools, the dealer network.
So we're really doing our best.
Mhmm.
So this dealer standards program, There's acouple things you mentioned.
And I hear this from customers all the time.
Hey.
You didn't buy it from me, so I'm not gonnaservice it.

(30:25):
Yeah.
If, if that's your case, you don't even qualifyfor driven period.
You're not on the program.
If we find that out, you're off.
So we're addressing that head to head with thedealer.
By the way, If you qualify for the standardsand the customer score you high enough, we'll
give you a 30% increase on the labor rate.
For warranty work on non customers.

(30:46):
So it'll financially benefit the dealer to takein a non customer to dealer So Yeah.
It's our way of addressing the elephant in theroom because it is it is a it is a problem.
And then lastly, service capacity, right, howmany times you call for dealer and it's months
out at times.
So, air stream recently has increased, anotherWell, we've we've added another standard and

(31:10):
that is you have to meet service capacityrequirements.
So a cool thing we found out through statsurveys who measures all the new sale is they
actually measure how many air streamregistrations are being renewed in every basic
trade area, BTA.
So, like, here in nearby in Columbus, we cansee how many air streams were renewed their
registration, not new air streams, but all airstreams.

(31:33):
So here's our thinking.
If people are renewing the registrations ontheir air stream, they're using their air
streams.
If they're using their air streams, thenthey're gonna service.
So we're using that as a guide to go to ourdealers and say based on this, here's how many
service bays you need, here's how manytechnicians you need.
And, you need to give us a business plan on howyou're gonna meet those service capacity

(31:53):
requirements.
Those business plans were due just this pastmonth.
Like, we're in the middle of this.
And I thought, man, I wonder how many dealersare gonna take this seriously.
You know?
I know they're exclusive as well becausethey're sir they're very committed.
But out of the 70 dealers, 68 gave us abusiness plan on how they're gonna meet those
service capacity.
Oh, cool.
And we're filtering filtering through thatright now.

(32:14):
So but I'd say we're we're trying.
We're we're trying to deal with each leg tothat stool.
We know it's important.
I think quality is the biggest differentiator.
And the the last thing about air Strange, andI'm more in the uniform here.
Right.
We have factory service.
So if you wanna get it winterized, you wannaget it fixed.
Anything you want, you can actually have thefactory do it.

(32:36):
So we're we have air streams I just had a a aChristmas lunch for for the crew, all the
technicians and service advisors.
But here's why it's important.
We see it too.
We fix So if something comes into the factoryand there's there's something wrong, we've got
the benefit of calling down the productionmanager or that or the group leader in that
area and saying, hey.
I need to I need you to see this.

(32:56):
This isn't good.
What are we gonna do about it?
So it puts us that more in touch with thecustomer where a lot of manufacturers don't do
that service.
They're only listening to their dealers.
It's a lot different when you're looking at thewhites of the eyes of somebody that's got this
problem, and you can tell her upset.
Yeah.
And then you can get people down.
So
Yeah.
A brand that's gonna let you come to thefactory.
Now, so let's say I own an air stream and I'min in the Ohio area, can I actually coming camp

(33:21):
out somewhere and and have that service?
Yeah.
So along with the service, we have acampground.
If you're getting service, campground's free.
Come on in.
And that's nice too.
If it's a if you've got several items on yourlist, it's gonna take a few days.
We will actually bring we'll we'll bring theunit in around 7 o'clock in the morning, work

(33:42):
to it about 4 o'clock, and then you canactually camp it in again and then bring it
back in.
So we're very customer centric.
Some people just leave it and just go on andtravel other places.
So we're we work with our customers.
Whatever more convenient for them, but we dohave a campground here.
Yeah.
That's always good.
If you're looking to to buy anything, any kindof RV, that's something I would suggest, to

(34:04):
look for.
And another thing before we move on here,because there there are some other questions,
always look for the users groups.
So you can find that on Facebook and otherplaces.
I think those I find those very helpful.
And I'm sure you guys at Airstream, do, youknow, help out the, users groups.
Right?
We have we're very involved we actually havepeople monitor every single one that we're

(34:27):
allowed to.
Some are private.
And we'll let us in.
Others are like, nope.
We're private, and it's We don't want anybodyfrom the company there, but we'll at least work
with the moderators and say, hey.
Give us a heads up if you if you're seeing sometrend.
We work with the owner's club, which actuallythey have brick and mortar here in town.
The the club has a building here in JacksonCenter.
We go to the rallies to, feedback sessions forproduct.

(34:50):
I'm actually on the board of, of the club.
So very, very involved.
You know, I often wonder, like, sometimes sinceI've been here at Air Strange, and this could
be a controversial way of saying it.
Maybe not so controversial, but I I I just knowhow these things work and I probably get some
heat for saying it, but I'm I'm but I'm gonnasay it.
So our warranty costs will remain prettysteady.

(35:14):
And then people will come and say, I mean, youhave massive, massive problems or or, like, or
your quality.
They'll they'll come in with a really extremething, but the warranty costs don't suggest it.
We're not out here denying warranty to keep ourwarranty warranty but I tell you, these things
have changed the dynamic of everything.
Mhmm.
Where, right away, they can post every littleissue on their on the forums.

(35:38):
You know, they can they have a huge megaphoneon that.
I think at the end of the day, I'm notcomplaining it.
I think it keeps us more honest to know that,hey.
Listen.
You know, we need to build a a bulletproofcoach, but I think at times 2 or 20 years ago,
It has the same warranty costs and same issues,but but all of a sudden now people have more
visibility on it.

(35:59):
Like, I wonder sometimes I'm like, man,sometimes the world seems like a nasty place,
or is it because everybody's got these phonesand we're just capturing more of what we've
always had, or is there some some other issue?
So I think there's this Sometimes there can bea false sense of, like, scale.
Mhmm.
But but it's it's actually just moretransparency, which I'm not, again, not
complaining about it.

(36:19):
But I think to some people who've been aroundand go, wow.
Is there something going on with thatmanufacturer, or or is it just
I think it's a little I think it's a little bitof everything.
I think for sure, the fact that we have theinternet now, you know, people are definitely
what we could put under the category ofoverusing it So I've seen some folks out there
that have an issue, and maybe they don't get animmediate result.

(36:43):
And then they automatically go to complaining.
I'm a YouTuber, and seen YouTubers do that.
My myself personally, I try to avoid that kindof thing.
I think it's better to give a company a chanceto work that situation out with you.
The reality of things, of anything, right,whether it's mechanical, electronic, is that
there's gonna be issues, especially if you useit.

(37:03):
If you don't use it, you're probably gonna seevery few issues.
But if you if you use it a lot, you put a lotof miles on there, you're going to see issues.
To me, that's not a problem.
It's how the places deal with it.
It's how the dealership I bought it from dealswith it, and it's how the company that made
that product deals with it.
And, you know, sometimes, you know, there maybe an an issue interfacing with them properly.

(37:30):
But I I think we need to look at all thesedifferent things, but there's no way that
there's not no one that's gonna build somethingand it has no issues.
Yeah.
And I and I agree with you.
It's it's on the is this a reasonable problemor not?
And when it gets to be unreasonable, Yeah.
I I I completely agree.
Yeah.
I think it's just interesting dynamic.
And then when you have my generation can'ttinker with it when I first got in the

(37:54):
business, and it was the greatest generation.
They took their toolbox and harvey.
They're probably fixing stuff on the road.
You know, I'm and including myself, I don'thave the tolerance for that because But
things were simpler, though, Justin.
You gotta remember that.
Like true too.
Yeah.
Things things were simpler.
Now it's more complicated.
There's a lot of electronics I like theelectronics in there, but that adds an extra

(38:14):
layer of complication.
And there's so many computers.
And if you think about it, especially in the inthe like a class b van.
Right?
You're definitely dealing with the van itself.
Whoever made it, whether it's Ford, Ram, let'ssay, or, Sprinter Mercedes, you're definitely
dealing with that.
And then the interface of that with the RV sideof it, of what they built And then they did

(38:38):
some interfacing as well.
Typically, all these companies make you guys gothrough a program, but there's always gonna be
some things going on there.
So all of that.
Like, so where I run into stuff, I have a Ford,and I think Ford is I'm gonna say that they're
the best because they have the most dealershipsall that kind of stuff is affordable to go to
the dealerships, etcetera.
But I still run into issues at 4 dealershipsbecause it's an RV, even though the company

(39:04):
that built it was certified to build RVs byFord.
You know, the mechanics at that at thedealership, and I you don't go to the to afford
dealership to deal with, you know, my sync isnot working, but they always get mad.
I'm I'm going there to deal with something thatonly Ford could do, but they always get mad.
So all that adds to the issues.

(39:25):
Yeah.
And it's tough when you don't control thatentire service experience from RV manufacturer
too because I'm a and and other key supplierscan also create havoc.
But, yeah,
I I think it's just an interesting dynamic in,ultimately, customer rotation citizens, and we
need to adapt.
Period.
Yeah.
You know, and folks
folks like me should help you guys out too, Ithink.

(39:46):
I think for example, if I let's say I bought anair stream and I had an issue as a YouTuber, I
can get a lot of views by going, look at howterrible this is.
Yeah.
But what we should do though is if we havethose connections, what I should do is reach
out to you, see how you deal with it.
Or in the case of New York, New York, if he hasthose issues, you know, I hope that he that
he's still watching and he emails you.

(40:08):
I should be, like, a bridge to you guys to helpthat person get their issues fixed.
Because I think that there's valid issues goingon out there for folks.
Absolutely.
Without a doubt.
But we need to somehow help work together andand help sort it out all out because the
Internet's not going away.
And, you know, this isn't, like, a hard truth,but I have seen some of our most loyal

(40:30):
customers had the biggest problems, and westood behind the product and took care
of them.
And they gave them all the confidence that,hey.
If anything else, happen.
So you can make, you know, you you can turn itinto a positive.
Mhmm.
Sure.
But but you can also just complicate it worseif the dealer doesn't fix it or if we Yeah.
We send them a part of breaks again.
So it's
Absolutely.

(40:52):
Travel dreamer.
And then and we've got, like, 40 seconds herebefore we go to the next thing, travel dreamer
says I like how you put the aluminum accents inthe van.
So that's from travel dreamer.
I'll give you 30 seconds to respond to that.
Yeah.
We have to that that's what we're known for.
That iconic aluminum.
We have to have some rivets, port holes in the,in in the bathroom door.
Little things to make it scream, air stream.

(41:15):
I will say this.
I think you and I looked at it in the unit, butwith that aluminum ceiling, you don't Hank
fabric coming down.
It doesn't absorb motors.
So there's also practical part part of it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You can stick stuff up there and all that.
Yeah.
It's awesome.
I love it.
Listen, we're gonna take a break.
Actually, go small, live large.
Had a question I'm a cover it.
Lola and I are now official brand ambassadorsfor Coachmen class b.

(41:36):
So I wanted to take a moment to tell you guyswhy we, as Vanasource, like it says on our t
shirt, are very excited about our partnershipwith Coachmen Class B.
First off, Coachmen RVs has been a leader tothe great outdoors since 196 before.
So next is the fact that coachman really caresabout you as an owner, whether you bought new

(41:58):
or used after you buy your van, they reallytake care of you.
With Coachmen Klosbee, you have all theoptions.
Coachmen bills on all three van platforms.
On the Mercedes Strange, it's a coachmanGalleria.
The Ford Transit is a coachman Beyond and RamPro Master is a coachman Nova.
Lastly, best value for money.

(42:18):
We've had our van for 2 years and coachmanbills to the highest standards of quality and
craftsmanship.
You can't go wrong with a coachman class b.
So if you're interested, check out the link inour description and find the coachman van
that's best for you.

(42:41):
Alright.
So we're back here.
So before I get to Scott's question, couple ofthings, smash those thumbs ups up out there.
I really appreciate that from everyone.
And then also I just wanna say again, you know,if you have an an RV, especially if it's in the
class b section here, of what I cover ifyou've, you know, let's say it's an air stream
or anything else and you have some issuesyou're having problems, you can always reach

(43:04):
out to me.
And if I know someone at that company, I willreach out to them on your behalf and, you know,
see if I can get the right contact info for youguys because I know how frustrating it is.
Especially when it comes to class b vans,they're very expensive.
So I I really do have a lot appreciation forthat.
We're looking at things that minimum are arounda $100,000 and then go up from there to over

(43:27):
$300,000.
So I get it, and I know how frustrating thatcan be.
I don't know if you wanted to answer thatreally quickly, Justin, before I go on to,
Scott's question.
No.
Okay.
Awesome.
So, here's, Scott's question.
He says, Justin, how is the range line doing 1year after release at Hershey Show.

(43:49):
We recorded a tour video together.
I do I do remember that video.
Yeah, the and I think you and I also did avideo on the range line here.
And I see now that it's it's in, the new RAM,right, the new Ram chassis is out.
So it's even better looking on the outside andhas even more stuff.
How's the range line doing?

(44:10):
You know, I would I would say we are got off toa great start.
And then as we hit late summer this year, Ithink just like a lot of the other BBAN
manufacturers, things started to slow down.
As interest rates continue to climb.
So I would say, great start.
Some economic pressures right now, which is theRV space, but What it did allow us to do is

(44:34):
even though the market's down a little bitbecause we had Strange line, our BBN business
is is actually doing a little better than waslast year when you add up the entire, portfolio
products.
You know, I think There's a lot.
It's it's an interesting segment, especially onthe ProMaster because there's so many people
building on them.
And so here's a little thing that's going on inthe industry now.

(44:56):
Is a lot of the or every year OEM has to ordertheir chassis out a year in advance.
And you're, you know, you're forecasting whatyour sales are gonna be.
And what we're experiencing is just notProMaster.
I think it's impacting ProMaster maybe a littlebit more than the others, but including
Sprinter is now all of a sudden sales are down,but you were ordering chassis a year ago at a

(45:16):
different rate.
So it's it's put some pressure on somemanufacturers that don't have good discipline.
So we we run into some, in that space, versuslike Sprinters, we run into some very
aggressive manufacturers who start reallydiscounting and putting a lot of pressure on
that segment.
Where we take a little bit more disciplinedapproach on that.

(45:39):
We don't wanna devalue the brand of what peoplehave bought.
Yeah.
But we recognize the economic environmentschanged, which I think has also slowed it down
slightly as we Hank it here to the fall.
But we've had some great feedback Marangelineowners.
It's really introduced us to more female, whichis awesome.
More female solo travelers.

(45:59):
We've also dealt with more families now.
We've got the top.
So we're getting a little younger, for for aportion of our customers, which is really cool.
Because if you make them happy, maybe the, youknow, they've got more air streams in their
future too as they continue to So, and it's putus in front of people that couldn't have afford
maybe the the interstate.
So it makes it more accessible.
So I would say overall, we're really excitedabout it.

(46:22):
The the thing that's tempering it right now isjust the economic conditions right now that are
kinda slowing that up a little bit.
Yeah.
Just as a side note to what you said, I haveseen other, folks, other companies in the
industry.
I won't I won't mention names here becauseprobably embarrassing.
But I have seen what they do is if theyoverbought those vans, then now they're selling

(46:43):
the vans off to other manufacturers and stufflike that.
It it's tough, right, to figure out exactlywhat the sales are gonna be.
And I think during the the COVID era, I thinkclass b vans were always going up, but COVID
just kicked it off and everyone jumped into aclass b van during that time, including me.
I had an office that I was doing all of thisstuff on my YouTube activities out of, and I

(47:07):
switched to a van.
You know?
I got tired of an office and, And I got tiredof, like, traveling was really tough.
If you could even get on a plane, it was reallytough.
So just sales just went ridiculous at thatpoint.
And they're down.
Class Bs are not down as much, but stilloverall, the economy is going down and and
people are feeling pain.
Right?

(47:28):
Yeah.
And, you know, it, that's just it.
It it's actually it's I think it's gonna bepretty sticky on this segment for the people
that got in because they are so flexible.
They are that Swiss army knife.
There's so many uses for it.
Mhmm.
That people really do enjoy it.
But, you know, it's when interest rates go uplike that, Those people finance might not wanna
finance it and wait till they come down.
So it's gonna have Hank that's why they raiseinterest rates.

(47:49):
It's just slow things down,
you know, discretionary product.
It'll slow it down.
So we're we Airstry has been busy 9 91 years.
We've Mhmm.
We've been through this song and dance plentyof times.
Mhmm.
But you have some some manufacturers out therethat'll get super aggressive.
And because, they share the same chassis orvan, it's, I can impact sales for others.

(48:09):
Yeah.
I just wanted to say real quick, New York, NewYork was still out there.
He says, thanks Hank and Justin.
So Hopefully, you'll be hearing from him.
We'll get that sorted out.
The other things while we're on the ridgeline,I I think the ridgeline's fan tastic.
One of the biggest reasons for me withAirstream is that I I believe it's on the lower

(48:31):
price end of getting into an air Strange, maybemaybe one of the smaller trailers that's
definitely, those would be a little cheaper,but in terms of motorized, Yes.
The ridgeline's easiest way for you to get intoan air stream affordably, and it offers so
much, I think, So, that's
We took a we took a very and when Scott and Idid the video in Hershey Mhmm.

(48:54):
When we first launched it, you know, there's somany lithium options out there these days and,
you know, there's there were so many paths wecould take with the range line where we said,
okay.
What we wanna do is make it a single fuelsource.
I think that's a critical thing.
So all you don't have to worry about LP on theright time at all.
Mhmm.
Now it does have a generator.
We don't have a full to replacement on, like, abig lithium pack, which Scott, I remember, he

(49:20):
he's a big believer in that.
Yeah.
I think that was a follow-up question becausehe was saying, was the future of lithium, but
go ahead.
Yeah.
So, certainly, we wanted something that wasvery affordable it did have a bigger lithium
with the game changer, the 270 amp hour, butthat's not enough to handle your air
conditioner.
However, with firefly, we were able to remove alot of the switching, simplify that system and

(49:44):
has a auto gen So if the lithium is down, it'llgo off of your, battery, levels, but it'll also
go up temperature.
So if you have a dog in the unit and you walkedaway and a hot day and it starts to go up.
It'll start the has to run the air conditioner.
So it'll start the generator, run the airconditioner.
That was a feature years ago that we only foundin class a's.
So now in this little B van, you can reallymanage things very well.

(50:08):
So, yeah, we took a really kind of intentionalapproach to say, hey.
We want all at the end of the day, we want thisthing to act in like a like a like a luxury RV
and really competitively priced product that'sflexible and usable.
And I I think it's a it's super compelling.
Now, I see lithium in its future we just haveto determine when that's gonna be and how it's

(50:32):
gonna be.
Mhmm.
We offer a big lithium pack from Volta, in oursprinter vans.
It's pretty expensive.
It's it's an it's an expensive package.
So we're maybe there's something in betweenwhere we are today and where that is that we
can find
Yeah.
That that common ground.
I think lithium's here to stay.
I mean, I see may well, okay.

(50:52):
So so going into the future, if you look at thesource of the batteries.
Right?
Cause, like, if we're talking about lithium,are we talking about just lithium itself or
what kind of batteries we get?
Hopefully, in the future here, we get better.
I know what people are concerned about, like,more renewable batteries and things like that.
Like, where does that lithium cobalt and allthose other rare earth metals come from that go

(51:16):
into the batteries, we may just get batterieswe can grow or something like that.
You know?
And batteries are here to stay.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
They are.
And I I love the fact that it's there's nonoise.
You know, you have a generator.
They've gotten a lot quieter.
In fact, that Graeme's line has the new updatedonan that's it's it's quiet as that general has
ever been, but it's not as quiet as a battery.

(51:37):
So I love it.
I love being able to charge it from youralternator.
What what we found is a lot of othermanufacturers, they would give you this lithium
replacement for your generator, but you stillhave LP for your cooking and your heat.
Mhmm.
And it was like, well, you kind of, like, Hankpregnant here.
Like, one of the benefits is to go single fuelsource.
So that's why we called the the system for forinterstate E 1.

(51:58):
It's electric and it's it's one fuel source.
You know, there are some benefits of having agenerator.
It's kinda like with cars, you've got moreservice points out there.
Right?
If you do have something go wrong, you're gonnafind a generator shop a lot faster.
You probably didn't find battery shop.
So I think as we could and it's been pretty,you know, as we've if we as we have learned

(52:22):
from the, e one package with interstate,they're performing pretty well.
So I
think that's not be much of an issue.
Yeah.
But knowing that you have that generator, justthat old tried and true Yeah.
Device to generate power, it's
Yeah.
I have a I have a generator in my van.
I actually bought my van without bad with, justregular batteries in there.

(52:42):
And then I upgraded it to, to lithiumbatteries.
So I've got the the generator and the lithiumbatteries.
And I think sometimes it's good because I don'thave to turn on my engine to charge those up.
I could just turn on the generator.
Either way, I'm I'm gonna, burn fuel, but Ithink, maybe the the, maybe the generator

(53:05):
running is probably a little bit more efficientthan running the engine.
Right?
So I think that's good.
But, you know, I think when we look at thisoverall, in my opinion, there's a whole bunch
of things that are gonna change here.
So in time, as things change, let's say we'regoing to electric car cars and then vans, which
no one wants to hear.

(53:25):
A lot of people don't wanna hear that.
But we're heading in that direction.
Regardless of what the news tells you, there'slaws and things like that that have been set
up.
It's not me.
I would I think vans need to be hybrid.
Of some sorts personally.
However, electricity is getting better,especially if you look at companies like Tesla
is getting better.
So the other companies out there are gonnastart copying Tesla at some point.

(53:48):
The reason why I say that when vans go electricso I think Ram is gonna have an electric van,
Ford already does, and Sprinter has one that'snot out yet.
So here in America, it's out in Europe.
So when we switch over to electric vans, youhave a massive battery on there.

(54:09):
You know, you're looking at probably over a100, kilowatt hours, big battery, maybe 150
kilowatt hours, 200 even, So if if if thingsreally get crazy, so that's a big battery right
there.
I think the challenge would just be thecompanies like Airstream, figuring out instead
of putting added extra lithium batteries inthere, how do you tap into that?

(54:31):
So someone before they get to the campground orwherever they're going, they, pull in charge up
that battery, and then they spend a couple ofdays there.
They can run off the battery.
What do you think about that?
And and, definitely, we're in the section herewith the time we have left talk it about the
future.
Yeah.
I the challenge that I have with it is the automanufacturers don't have a real good history of

(54:54):
share ring with us and probably for goodreason.
I mean, on some of the upfits that that's wherethings go wrong is when things aren't approved.
Right.
So utilizing those batteries, for camping andpulling it off the, the vehicle portion of it I
see that being a a challenge just on the estream.
So we developed a a trailer that could propelitself sixty miles an hour behind a

(55:18):
Yeah.
Those are able to extend the range.
Right?
Yeah.
That's
awesome.
Maybe we can charge the car.
Oh, we only go one way, but it's like, theythey start to push back pretty quick, and we
realized we're not Kansas anymore, and this isa whole new set of compliance.
So the future's there.
What we're just gonna have to do is add lithiumon top of lithium.
Yeah.
And then you don't have that alternator, whichI agree with you.

(55:41):
The hybrid seems like a pretty good optionbecause then you have some some way of charging
these batteries when you're off the grid andyou've running out.
That's the piece that I have to get my headwrapped around is, okay, totally agree with the
campground side of it.
But if you really wanna get off the grid andnot use that, I think this is gonna this is
gonna put a bigger leash on you.
At least initially, then what you have todaywhere you can turn on that alternator and

(56:05):
charge this Lithia pack.
And then and then you've got another night ofpower where you can run the air conditioner.
So
Yeah.
That night's a piece we did.
It was sitting out in front of our plant, butwe've sometimes you'll drive by and you'll see
some weird looking van.
We we've had prototypes down here at air streamall over the place.
And we've been in talks with a lot of thesemanufacturers, some of which I can talk about

(56:28):
others.
I can't.
Yeah.
I would say extender Strange extender.
Yeah.
That's the issue.
Right?
On every single one, it's
not on.
Wow.
That's more than enough range for
us.
Right.
Yeah.
I've never had that, at that point yet.
Yeah.
So you know what's gonna happen, I think, is ifyou look at right now Ford in their van, I own
a Strange, a Ford E Strange.

(56:49):
And that has a
I remember you telling me that.
Yeah.
And so that in the back of it has what theycall the power pack.
So if you're I don't know.
If you're working on a construction site orsomething using that van, you could plug into
that and that runs right off the battery.
So even the, the the cyber truck that recentlycame out from Tesla has, something like that in

(57:15):
the in the bed that you could plug stuff in.
Same thing, with, the pickup from Ford at the FOne Fifty Lightning.
So I think those the companies, if they don'twant you to mess with the system, they just
need you to have something like that that youcan tap into.
And then you can run off of that, and they canset a limit.
So you could say, hey, only use 20% or 50% ofmy actual onboard battery.

(57:40):
And that's gonna work easier.
I think at the end of the day, I like a hybridthe issue with a hybrid is, like, in the olden
days when you had, a TV and a VCR together.
There's just more things to go wrong.
So, you know, the more stuff we add to this,the more things will go wrong, the more people
will complain about things.
We really do need to figure it out And I thinkthe RV industry and the manufacturing, so what

(58:06):
I'm talking about is the automotivemanufacturing industry.
You guys need to get together and sort it outsomehow.
I think really that last mile and deliveryservices are gonna get the biggest attention
first because that's for the bulk of thecommercial businesses from.
And then the RVs is just kind of the chips willfall as as they always do based on what they
buy.

(58:26):
The problem with that is they're typicallylocal trips.
They have access to charging throughout thetown.
And, you know, a 150 mile range for commercialvehicles, not as bad, but for an RV, it's it's
not it's not acceptable.
So I'm real curious on range extenders and howthat interacts who knows.
And I will say there are some are, there's somedisruptors in that space that are more open to

(58:49):
talk to RVs and and creative solutions andyou're kinda standard, legacy brands that have
been out there a while.
I'm kind of setting their ways.
So I have some, I'm I'm optimistic on it forsure.
I think that there's an opportunity there.
I'm just I'm trying to understand how do we getgive you the most range and the most time off
the grid without having in, and that's gonna bethat's gonna be the challenge in in the

(59:13):
creativity of manufacturers to figure out.
Yeah.
I think solar panels are a big thing too while,you know, while we're on the subject.
At I was at Cyma Show, this year, and there wasa company that I saw there.
And I've got shorts of there's a short up ofthis on my channel.
So there's this company that makes a solarpanel system that when it's it's flat, Right?

(59:35):
And so it gets what you would get, you know,out of a solar panel, but then, they had 3
different leaves that open up And then itbecomes a three-dimensional panel.
And, you know, from what they showed me in thesame footprint, is let's say what I have on my
van now, you can go you can probably get, whatwas it, like, 8, 900 watts out of that.

(59:59):
And that's a big deal.
That's
right.
Yeah.
Because if you guys can get, let's say, fromsomewhere between 900,11100, watts on a solar
panel on something, then you can really trulyreplace electricity.
You know, the 200 watts we have right now,maybe 300 or 4 cases is just not enough.

(01:00:20):
So I think that's a big part of the picture aswell because then if you're off the grid, that
could truly give you either miles or orsomething.
If you're running off of one battery, it cangive you definitely give you miles.
Not not a lot, but it can give you miles.
So
No.
I agree.
And I think what we Hank, a crutch right nowcalled an alternator.

(01:00:40):
So if we didn't have that alternator there, weprobably see more more Watts on the on the
roof.
Right?
So I think as we get closer to that, that'swhere the innovation's gonna come from
manufacturers to say, alright.
Yeah.
How do we do this?
Even on an electric vehicle, like a 900 watts,it would take a long time to charge that that
battery, but I think what we're after is justcharging the house battery, making sure that
you have enough to operate.

(01:01:02):
Yeah.
That's true.
And battery battery technology is gonna getbetter too.
All of that stuff, I think, is coming alongsomething I wanted to show you real quick.
I'm gonna go fill screen just so that, folkscan see this here.
The thumbnail.
Did you see the thumbnail for this?
Probably not.
So here, I am gonna switch to the thumbnailright now.

(01:01:24):
That is that is what I did as the thumbnail.
So we're talking about the ridgeline.
We're talking about the future.
I actually went to AI and I said, create, afuturistic ridgeline.
Believe it or not, Ram Pro Master, Airstreamtype thing.
And this is what came up.
So How cool is that?
Yeah.
You know, I think that, yeah, we've we've got alot of cool stuff to look forward to here, as

(01:01:48):
time
of the technology.
And I gotta tell you, I'm super decided to seethe technology that's coming and some of the
com or the confidential conversations we've hadwith the OEM providers on the automotive side.
It's gonna be a really interesting 5 years, andI'm still getting my head around some of the
interactions between house and chassis.
Mhmm.
But, that that'll be figured out.
But I Hank, well, at the end, we'll have abetter product, a better experience.

(01:02:10):
I think so.
I really think there's good things here.
The cyber truck is actually out, people'sopinions, I'm sure, gonna get crazy.
If I mentioned Cybertruck, but it's out.
Tesla's making them.
They're they're, there's probably they'veprobably made somewhere close to well over 500
at this point, I would assume, but those thingsare gonna get into regular production, and
they're gonna use that as that that also isgonna be used for their van platform.

(01:02:33):
I don't know if you're aware of that.
So they're gonna build a van on that.
Yeah.
Pretty cool.
That's gonna be interesting.
I think you're gonna see other companies comingalong here and doing it.
And I think in time, just with all the issuesof, like, what should we be pushing for as a
country or even the whole world, right?
Should we should everything be electric Shouldthere be some combination of electric and

(01:02:59):
something else?
We'll figure all that out and make it practicaland affordable because that's really what needs
to happen here.
So
Absolutely.
Yeah.
It'll be exciting.
You know, after this, I'll send you that thatsolar panel thing that I was talking about, but
we're coming towards the end now.
And what I wanna do while we wind this down,because I'm sure Justin has, a bunch of other

(01:03:19):
stuff to do.
I do wanna get some quick things in here.
Travel Dreamer had a question.
He said, do you know of any customers that havebeen able to modify your coaches like, wider
door Strange to accommodate wheelchairs,etcetera, or do you guys Hank, for me, I would
add to that.
Do you guys have wheelchair accessible?
Version.

(01:03:40):
We we don't we don't have wheelchairaccessible, but I I am familiar with upfitters
who are able to do that aftermarket.
And that you with a sliding door, that's that'snot the issue you on a van you can get in.
It's really the under body and flooring, butthere are some some firms that can do that
aftermarket.
Oh, okay.
If someone's buying from air stream, can, canthey have that company work with Strange before

(01:04:02):
they this gets built, or is it after?
Yeah.
It's aftermarket.
Okay.
It has to be aftermarket.
Okay.
Cool.
And, Scott did thank us.
There you go.
He said he also said great great job addingvolta lithium systems to many of your B vans.
So there you go.
I Hank, I think that's it for the questions.

(01:04:24):
Is there anything that you wanted to add herebefore we wrap this up, man?
I, you know, time went really fast.
Like I said, you and I can and talk to eachother.
Hopefully, he'll come back, and this wasn't tooterrible.
No.
Absolutely.
I I enjoy it.
Hank always always enjoy talking with you.
And, you know, your experience in the BBANS isreally helpful for me.
It's kinda get kind of a different insight,different lens.

(01:04:45):
But, no, I I just appreciate the audience.
Op and buy and then for you to show, check outan air stream.
If you're up at the factory, we do factorytours every day.
You gotta sign up online, air stream.com, butwe got a museum.
You can see how they're built.
We'll do 2 factory tours a day.
1 at the travel trailer facility and the othermotor home, so you can see both.
Oh, cool.
So make sure you stop by and
What areas that the people have to be in

(01:05:06):
I jokingly say Jackson Center of the Universe,the Town's called Jackson Center, and it's a
Western Ohio, about an hour north of Daytonright off not too far off of 75.
Mhmm.
So Okay.
Yeah.
If you're ever in the area, and we need to getyou here, Hank.
You Absolutely.
Yes.
Yeah.
We are gonna make plans.
So in 2024, you guys will see us.
We'll we'll probably pin that down and come outthere and take a look at it.

(01:05:29):
As well as I think I'm gonna see you.
The next time I'm gonna see you in person'sgonna be at Tampa, the Super Show, right, the
RV Super Show?
Jeez.
Few few weeks.
Coming up, man.
Yeah.
It's a couple weeks.
And I'm sure you guys have some cool stuff.
There'll there'll be some, awesome things outthere.
I I do really wanna thank you for coming on.
I hope you have a happy holidays, with thefamily.

(01:05:54):
And happy holidays.
Merry Christmas to everyone out there.
I think, we're doing another podcast next weekThursday and sometime before the year ends.
I'm probably gonna do my, year end wrap up thatI usually do.
I think I'm just gonna do that live because Idon't have enough time to edit all the videos.
There's so many videos I'm so far behind rightnow.

(01:06:16):
So I'm just gonna do, like, what I thought wasthe most awesome thing in this year.
I'm gonna do that live.
So, just yes.
Justin, thanks so much for coming on.
Look forward to seeing you again soon.
Bye to everyone out there.
Stay right there, Justin.
We're I'm gonna end this right now.
Hank, everyone.
We'll see you on the next one.
We're out.

(01:06:37):
Bye.
Peace.