It is the iconic “silver bullet” exterior of the Airstream trailer that highlights its unique style, with aluminum covers that proudly exhibit rivets that aid in the construction. Although CEO Bob Wheeler is willing to experiment with new models without one or two of those trademark features if it means making Airstream vehicles more appealing to younger buyers who will be responsible for maintaining the brand and the RV for a longer period of time. It is expected that the industry will continue to grow for decades to come.
“We really have to put in the effort and understand how Airstream is going to be relevant to millennials and Gen Z for years to come,” Wheeler told me, “and I’m not convinced it’s just a variant of our classic Airstream travel trailer.”
Wheeler has been working on this concern for years, even in the midst of a decade-long RV industry boom and particularly good times for Airstream and its luxury buyers. In fact, earlier There are a couple of new Airstream trailers aimed primarily at younger consumers, which are smaller, less expensive.
Even though these new lines look smaller than Airstreams, they are still Airstreams. He is discussing experimenting with more extreme changes to Airstream’s basic proposal.
“Our product is expensive and it’s light, but it’s not light enough for the needs of many millennials who drive Subarus and crossover SUVs” that might not be powerful enough to haul an Airstream. “We can’t fool ourselves into thinking that we can just tweak the formula here and hope it continues for the next generation. So we’re taking a deep dive to consider letting go of some of the things that we might have considered restrictions in the past.”
That means the instantly recognizable Airstream silhouette, aluminum cladding, and what appear to be handcrafted rivets. “If you keep all three, you end up with exactly what we have,” Wheeler said. “We have to show flexibility to change direction in at least one of those areas, maybe two.”
