Startup fifth wheel manufacturer Vanleigh RV made a late-addition to the Open House lineup this year.
Officials from the Burnsville, Miss.-based company said that the decision to make the trek to Elkhart follows the completion of its latest luxury fifth wheel model and an effort to expand its dealer network in 2017.
The Vanleigh exhibit will set up where County Road 17 meets Executive Parkway. National Sales Manager Ryan Ellson said the company would showcase three floorplans throughout the day Sept. 20-21.
“Our primary goal and prime focus will be to get the product in front of the dealers,” Ellson said. “Primarily dealers on the West Coast, who might not have had a chance to see what we’ve been working on, as well as our dealers who haven’t seen the new front living (375FL model). “
In addition to introducing the brand to a wider dealer network, the display will showcase its new front living fiver.
“The 375FL is quite different from any other fifth wheel floorplan in the industry,” Ellson said.
For example, the unit measures under 41-feet long, but takes advantage of a half-dozen slideouts to maximize space, including two 8-foot slides in the main living area, where vinyl tile flooring, opposing sleeper sofas, a 40-inch fireplace and 55-inch TV, adorn the entertainment space, according to Ellson.
The unit is so new that the team hasn’t yet finalized a price-point for the new unit, but Ellson puts it in the ballpark of the company’s seminal fiver Vilano, which began production a little over a year ago.
“It may be a little more than the Vilano, but it should be somewhere around that price,” he said.
After starting the company about 18 months ago, founder Leigh Tiffin said the copmany’s dealer network has slowly spread to cover the South and East Coast, and he’s hoping to use the September show to introduce the lineup to a broader stretch of dealerships.
“Our No. 1 challenge, as a startup company, has been that people don’t yet know who you are,” he said. “We want them to know that first of all we’re giving them something special. The supply of our products will be fairly limited, meaning that we’re not going to flood the market with product.”
At the same time, there’s a balance to keeping up with the demand of an expanding dealer network, and with the company’s first year of production in the books, Tiffin thinks the company is hitting its stride as a luxury fifth wheel manufacturers.
“Nobody knows what that magic number is on fifth wheels,” he said, speaking to the balance between production volume and quality. “But we’re beginning to think that we’ve found it.”
Vanleigh will also showcase its lineup at the Hershey, Pa. show Sept. 14-18 alongside Campers Inn at Booth A13. For more information, or to contact the company, visit vanleighrv.com.
