Americans have long been enamored of the open road. There was John Steinbeck circling the country in Travels With Charley. Buz and Tod tooling west on Route 66. Clark Griswold loading up the family for a National Lampoon’s Vacation.
Today, though, motorists are increasingly traveling in style.
In recent years, sales of luxury recreational vehicles, better known as RVs, have soared. Why stay in a tent or hotel room when you can bring all the amenities of home when you go? French door refrigerators, granite countertops, flat-screen TVs, even king-size beds — all that and more can be found just behind the driver’s seat.
“It’s pretty much a home on wheels,” said Frank X. Konigseder, vice president of Liberty Coach.
Based in Illinois, 50-year-old Liberty is at the top of the market with prices ranging from $2.4 million to $2.7 million. Owners of the company’s customized RVs include NASCAR racer Kyle Busch and his longtime sponsor, the Mars family of M&M’s and Milky Way fame.
Typical buyers, though, are NASCAR fans who like to travel the circuit. “They’re business owners, or maybe auto dealers or contractors,” Konigseder said. Because of the time and cost involved with customizing a coach, “this is a relationship-based business, no questions about it,” he said. “We are tied to them for many, many years, they become good friends. We have second-generation (customers).”
Liberty, whose sales offices are in Stuart, builds its coaches on tour bus chassis that come from the Canadian maker with not much more than a driver’s seat and slides — the sections that slide out from the main frame and can expand the RV’s width, when parked, from 8 ½ feet to about 13 feet. Following the buyer’s specifications, Liberty takes eight months or so to customize a vehicle. It generally turns out 15 a year.
When finished, a coach has approximately 480 square feet of living space and gets 7 to 8 miles per gallon. Konigseder said that’s 20 percent better mileage than in the past, thanks to the more environmentally friendly technology and materials the company now uses.
Opulent RVs don’t all run into seven figures. Newmar Corp., whose parent company is Winnebago, lists its 2022 Ventana model with a base price of $383,960. Among the features: a hide-a-bed sofa; a dual-sink vanity; and a work desk with chair, overhead cabinet and large window providing natural light.
Options include heated floor tile and theater-style seats.
Another maker of high-end RVs is Alabama-based Tiffin Motorhomes, which like Liberty is celebrating its 50th year in business. Tiffin is unique in that its builds its own chassis for its two top models, the Allegro, which ranges from $500,000 to $600,000, and the Zephyr, which runs around $750,000.
“We don’t necessarily build a custom floor plan but clients have a wide variety for decor and options,” said Andy Baer, Tiffin’s general manager. Among the most popular options: wine coolers, heated floors and built-in…
Read More: Luxury RVs let you travel in style and independently