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Date:         Mon, 23 Apr 2007 13:36:03 -0500
Reply-To:     vt <samcvt@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         vt <samcvt@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: Going towards a new era...
Comments: To: Geza Polony <gezapolony@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=original

My guess is that unless vehicle-related costs for petroleum products come way down, the market for highway recreatioal and "camping" vehicles will continue to shrink. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Geza Polony" <gezapolony@SBCGLOBAL.NET> Subject: Re: Going towards a new era...

> Nothing wrong with dreaming, but I wonder if there's any sizeable market > for > campers like you're describing, especially at higher prices and with the > competition from larger RV's presently available. It's easy to think along > the lines of "because I like it, everyone else will," but whether there's > a > real market larger than what Ben and a few other people are serving > remains > to be seen. Didn't VW try this with the Eurovan, sort of? > > What seems to be selling right now is large-wheeled, military-looking > SUV's > with names like "Nitro" and "Armada." > > As far as price goes, I see tons of late-model, primo Westies listed on > the > local CL for over 10K...for many months. What do they really sell for? > > Part of the charm of these, to many of us, is precisely that they ARE > cheap > rides. That's part of VW bus/Vanagon culture, and it's hard to work > against. > VW itself has tried, pretty successfully, to dissociate itself from its > Volksy roots in the past couple of decades, but the first thing that comes > to mind when thinking Vanagon, for most people, is "hippy bus." How you > gonna sell hippy buses for $60K? > > These are the kinds of questions you'd have to answer to potential > investors. Building them would be relatively easy. Selling them is another > matter. Let alone at a profit. > > It seems to me that given current automotive tastes, the Syncro platform > would be the place to start. That you could market as distinctly different > from a VW bus, and go from there.


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