Motorhomes.co.uk celebrates two 50th Anniversary's!

Having recently signed Rapido and Auto Sleepers, Motorhomes.co.uk is heading into 2011 with two of the strongest and longest established franchises in Europe! Coincidentally both brands will be celebrating their 50thAnniversary which is an incredible achievement in the motorhome industry.

Both brands are planning special club meetings and dealer celebrations throughout the year, there will also be special anniversary edition models from both factories. “We are very excited about heading into this next year with these two wonderful brands to represent, the promotional potential of their 50thAnniversary’s offers Travelworld a great kick start as their newest dealer!” Said Ross Edwards, 'Motorhomes.co.uk' Managing Director.

Renovations to Motorhomes.co.uk

Motorhomes.co.uk Renovations

Motorhomes.co.uk are undertaking extensive remodelling / restructuring of their dealership with some very exciting future plans! Included in the project will be complete rework of the front reception area including 5.5m x 2.5m glass wall between the showroom and reception and 150 sq ft ceramic tiled area, complete rebuild of the office block and new Customer Service Department area with lounge, extension and remodel of the parts department and large expansion of the Accessory department. This is all part of the exciting changes happening at Motorhomes.co.uk to serve its customers better and creating a truly 'one-stop-shop' dealership for both American & European motorhomes!

Development work of the 2 acres next to the showroom are planned to start straight after the new year allowing for the parking of in excess of 150 motorhomes! "By the summer of 2011 we will have by far the largest and most varied display of motorhomes within the midlands area" said Ross Edwards, Managing Director of Motorhomes.co.uk.

Motorhomes.co.uk becomes the 'star of TV'

As part of motorhomes.co.uk new marketing campaign the dealership has committed to two Television schedule's! Included in motorhomes.co.uk new marketing vision are 'the Caravan Channel' where the new 30 second advert will be aired on sky channel 166 & free sat channel 402 between the 06 October & the 02 November. Also for all you motor racing fans The add will also be shown on 'Motors TV' Sky channel 413 and free sat 545, no less than 100 times between 21st December 2010 and 1st January 2011!

The Television advert was shot exclusively at Motorhomes.co.uk headquarters in Telford and shows the state of the art showroom and premises along with 'on the road' visuals. "We are incredibly happy with the outcome of this advert, it really shows customers who haven't been to see us yet exactly what they're missing!" "We were lucky enough to have one of the cameramen from Top Gear doing our 'on the road' driving shots which makes for some great visuals" said Ross Edwards Managing Director of Motorhomes.co.uk.

Louisville 48th RVIA show

Thank goodness for Americans and their positive mental attitude! The RV industry is by no means back to its old self however there are certainly green shoots appearing and that’s pretty much all those guys need! We didn’t know exactly what to expect this year after the show was so decimated the previous year however we were pleasantly surprised. Nearly all the usual suspects were attending and all of the factory representatives were beaming with positive remarks and enthusiasm for the current rise in sales and what could be achieved in the year ahead.

Our first appointment at the show was with the new ‘Monaco RV LLC’ who had invited us to a special unveiling of their Brand new ‘Vesta’ model, this is the first model to be designed together with new owner Navistar. The 'Vesta' offers what Monaco are calling the most aerodynamic design for years! Also on display were several models with the new 'slide within a slide' floor plans including the Holiday Rambler 'Aluma lite' – I actually reported on this model two years ago when the first prototype was shown however the model never went into production, until now.

It was amazing to see how much emphasis most manufacturers are putting on Trailers and Fifth Wheels, these seem to been the saviour of the industry in many parts and many dealers I spoke to have simply stopped selling motorised products in favour of towables. There was an entire hall this year displaying only towables and there were some notable large manufacturers that have gone as far as to stop building A Class motorhomes, namely Gulfstream Coach. We had many years dealing with Gulfstream through the 80’s and 90’s and motorhomes were always their backbone so to see a company like that only displaying towables and C Class models was a shock, 5 years ago they had upwards of 15 different A Class motorhomes on offer! Displaying opposite was ‘Carriage’ who proved how far the towable market has come with their new ‘full wall triple slide out’ fifth wheel retailing at $200,000.

Not everyone was consolidating and looking to cost effective production, the ‘new’ Fleetwood Motor Coach were displaying the sublime and some would say grotesque ‘American Coach Heritage’ with a price ticket of $850,000. Displaying a windscreen sign saying ‘size really does matter’ and promising 430 Sq Ft of internal space it does seem that the high end of the market is alive and kicking! One of most successful motorised A Class manufacturers in America currently are ‘Thor Motor Coach’, Thor have been the parent group of many manufacturers such as Four Winds, Airstream, Damon, Dutchmen etc. For 2011 Thor have decided to join all of its motorised product together under one banner and lose the brand names Damon & Four Winds. Displayed on their stand was the fantastic new Thor Windsport model which was easily the best A class model of the show, the Windsport offers more 7.5 ton floor plans than any other A class on the market and oozes quality over and above the lower specification Daybreak and Hurricane. Our favourite new floor plan from the Windsport model was the 31 J offering ‘mid sofa / front horse shoe lounge’ and a brilliant new electric front bunk with air mattress that fits completely flush into the roof – thus meaning a possible 8 berth!

One model that did confuse us however was the new Thor Ace, introduced to us by Thor as ‘revolutionary to the industry’ and ‘a concept between A class and C class’ I’m afraid came woefully short of the mark. The Ace is certainly built to a price and with the high overall height and bulbous front forehead this motorhome is not a pretty sight! We also found the factory tried too hard with gimmicks such as dog food bowl draw under the shower tray and rubber shower curtain that was apparently anti bacterial! Bizarre.

Travelworld Awarded Forest River Franchise

Travelworld RV have been awarded the prestigious Forest River franchise for the UK, having just returned from the 47th Louisville trade show in the US Ross Edwards from Travelworld RV commented "we went out there looking for competitively priced high specification pushers and were completely blown away with Forest River’s new offering, the Berkshire model has had a complete revamp for 2010 and offers incredible value for money, four brilliant floor plans & exactly 100" overall body width".

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Niesmann Bischoff Owners Club Gathering

NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH? Well, we got one! at the N&B Owners Club’s first gathering in October. The venue was at “Travel World” in Telford Shropshire, the UK’s one and only importer of Niesmann and Bischoff’s luxury line-up of motorcaravans. Our group of twenty eight campers were represented by owners of up to fifteen years to one fortunate owner who had just been in their Arto for only that day. All had come from points of origin throughout the UK. Some just came for an overnight while most of us stayed on for all the festivities throughout the entire weekend.

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Travelworld Granted Euro Stars

Travelworld RV is very proud to announce they have been granted the sole UK rights for Niesmann + Bishcoff & have also been granted a prestigious Auto-Trail dealership.

These two brands have the best both Germany & the UK have to offer and brilliantly complement the other high quality US brands Travelworld currently carries. Niesmann + Bishcoff have been without any UK representation for nearly 12 months. They have been waiting to find the right company to re-establish the brand and offer the correct sales & all important after sales /service aspect for the brand.

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Travelworld seals Diplomatic ties with Azerbaijan

In times of recession its always good for a business to look to other markets and try to vary its client base, even so when I received a phone call on the 23rd December 2008 from a contact working on behalf of a client in Azerbaijan who wanted to buy a luxury RV as a birthday present for his father, I must admit I was a little sceptical! I set about discussing the range of RV's that Travelworld had to offer, however it wasn't long before it was made abundantly clear that only the very best would do and the vehicle had to be delivered to Azerbaijan by the 1st February 2009.

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Record numbers attend Travelworld RV Open Weekend

The recent Open Weekend held by Travelworld RV at their Telford showroom has been hailed as an outstanding success by all who attended. According to Operations Director, Annabel Macquarie; "The weekend was amazing, with more visitors than we have ever seen before attending to preview 2010 RV models."

We had a fantastic attendance over the weekend to see the latest models from leading RV manufacturers including Coachmen, Forest River, Thor and Monaco, as well as a large collection of pre-owned motorhomes.

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Most Expensive RV

Travelworld is the exclusive dealer of the most expensive American RV on sale in the UK.

The impressive Monaco Dynasty is sold exclusively by Travelworld RV in the UK for a whopping £280,000, around the same price as a 3 bedroomed detached house in the West Midlands!

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Annabel Hikes China for Charity

Local businesswoman Annabel Macquarie has just completed the challenge of a lifetime and raised more than £2,500 for charity to boot. Annabel, who is operations director of Telford based American motorhome business, Travelworld RV, has just returned for a gruelling five day trek along the Great Wall of China in aid of charity Scope. The adventure took her along some of the most demanding terrain in the world, through mountainous trails and remote villages before finally ending up in Beijing.

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