NeXus RV marked two achievements in early 2017 — the opening of a dealership in Fairfield, California, and the completion of the company’s 1,000th motorhome.
The new dealership is at 4840 Auto Plaza Court in Fairfield, which is between San Francisco and Sacramento. The dealership will serve customers throughout the Northwest.
The company’s 1000th unit was a 25V Viper motorhome, which the company markets as a Type B-plus. It is built on a Ford F-350 chassis and has a V-10 engine. Standard features include seamless fiberglass sidewalls, laminated steel-framed flooring, and a deluxe exterior graphics package.
NeXus RV, an Elkhart, Indiana-based RV manufacturer of Type A, B, and C motorhomes, operates with a factory-direct sales strategy. Cofounders Claude Donati and Dave Middleton started the company in 2010. For more information, visit https://nexusrv.com or call (855) 786-3987.
June is Great Outdoors Month, which highlights the social, economic, and health benefits of active fun outdoors on American’s public lands. Last year, more than 1 million people participated in events at tens of thousands of sites. Again this year, public and private partners across the United States have organized activities throughout the month.
Events include National Trails Day (June 3); National Fishing & Boating Week (June 3-11); National Get Outdoors Day (June 10); National Marina Days (Memorial Day to Labor Day); Great Outdoors Day of Service (June 16); Great American Campout (all summer); and Get Into Your Sanctuary Days (June 24-25).
To learn more, visit www.greatoutdoorsmonth.org.
The cost of a National Park Service lifetime pass soon will increase from $10 to $80. The date that the price increase takes effect has not been announced, but an NPS spokeswoman said it’s likely to happen in 2017. When contacted in late April, she recommended that eligible people obtain the pass in “the next few months.”
U.S. citizens and permanent residents who are age 62 and up are eligible for the pass, which officially is known as the America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass – Senior Pass. It provides access to more than 2,000 recreation sites managed by the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The price of the pass is going up because in December 2016 Congress approved the National Park Service Centennial Act, which raises fees and establishes an endowment to help pay for projects and visitor services.
Passes can be purchased from participating federal recreation sites or offices. For an additional $10, passes can be ordered through the mail or online. Visit www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm for a list of federal sites that issue passes, an application form for buying a pass by mail, and a link to purchase a pass online. For more information about the lifetime pass, call (888) 275-8747, option 3.
Robert Schoellhorn, owner and chairman of Marathon Coach, died January 11, 2017. The company (an FMCA commercial member) built and distributed more than 1,000 custom bus conversions during his tenure.
Before venturing into the RV industry, Mr. Schoellhorn enjoyed a long, successful business career, including 26 years at American Cyanamid and 17 years at Abbott Laboratories, where he served as CEO and and chairman of the board.
Upon retirement, he pursued an interest in RVing. He first purchased a traditional Type A motorhome. When he stumbled upon Marathon Coach in Oregon, Mr. Schoellhorn was impressed with the company’s custom coach conversions, which were similar to private jets and custom yachts. Soon after buying his first Marathon vehicle, he purchased a minority share in the company.
He became sole owner of Marathon Coach in 1994. He used his business expertise to accelerate Marathon’s expansion, which included building the company’s state-of-the-art headquarters in Coburg, Oregon.
Mr. Schoellhorn is survived by his wife, Kay; son Robert W. Schoellhorn; daughter Jennifer Kovalenko; and son Steve Schoellhorn, who is owner and president of Marathon Coach.
Regency RV has introduced its Concept One motorhome, a Type B coach built on the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis. Regency RV is the motorhome division of Regency Conversions, owned by Wayne Davis Auto Group LLC of Fort Worth, Texas.
Standard features of the Concept One include: Alcoa aluminum wheels; stainless-steel grille, hood accents, and side body trim; a 13-foot Fiamma power awning; a full interior LED lighting package; a convection-microwave oven and electric cooktop; a 3.1-cubic-foot high-efficiency refrigerator/freezer; leather front seats that swivel and recline; handcrafted hardwood cabinets with self-closing drawers; and two 19-inch flat-screen HDTVs.
For more information, visit www.regencyrv.com or call (817) 847-7974.
Jayco, a subsidiary of Thor Industries Inc., has added a dedicated mill room and a lamination facility for motorhome products at its Middlebury, Indiana, factory. The mill room has been operational since October 2016, and the lamination facility was expected to come online by the end of March 2017.
The additions are part of an expansion that is in response to growing demand for Jayco’s motorhomes, travel trailers, fifth wheels, and toy haulers. Several building projects will add more than 400,000 square feet of production space at the Middlebury complex; it’s also expected that more than 300 jobs will be added.
Bob Upton, formerly vice president of sales and service for La Mesa RV Center, has been promoted to president. Mr. Upton has been with the company for 22 years.
La Mesa RV, founded in 1972 in a suburb of San Diego, California, has 11 locations: San Diego and Davis in California; Quartzsite, Phoenix, Mesa, and Tucson in Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Daytona Beach, Sanford, Port Saint Lucie, and Fort Myers in Florida. For more information, visit www.lamesarv.com.
colForest River Inc. has changed its policy regarding procurement of warranty parts for its dealers. Company officials say the new policy is aimed at increasing customer satisfaction.
Dealers are no longer required to obtain warranty parts through Forest River. Instead, dealers are being encouraged to procure parts in “the most expeditious manner” so that customers’ motorhomes can be repaired as soon as possible. The revised policy calls for Forest River to pay for the part and parts markup regardless of where it is purchased.
The new policy follows Forest River’s 2016 announcement that streamlined the warranty parts “must return process” for its dealers, a move that reduces the number of parts required to be returned for warranty reimbursement. In addition, “parts hold,” a common industry practice requiring warranty parts to be held by dealers for a period of time, was eliminated.