This is long interview with Mike Reuer who led Westfalia recovery from the Daimler disaster. Seems as he is going to be directly or indirectly very involve in Roadtrek recovery. With engineering background and recovery experience this could be a very good news for Roadtrek. This interview can shed some light on Rapido strategy how to bring Roadtrek back to life.
https://creditreform-magazin.de/2016...bil-westfalia/
“Motorhome farmer Westfalia: "Takeover was a stroke of luck"
Westfalia brings holiday feeling to the street. But almost the manufacturer of motorhomes itself would have come off the track. CEO Mike Reuer talks about the successful turnaround, pragmatism and autoshow.
Mr. Reuer, you come from luxury yacht construction, today you are a medium-sized automobile manufacturer. Was that a big step for you?
Not necessarily. In interior design yes - to put it bluntly - made similar demands on the functionality. Whether with keel and fuselage or with wheels and suspension, the goal is the same: in the smallest space you want to offer sleeping facilities, a seating area and a kitchen.
Hand on heart: Do bathrooms belong in cars?
They play the toilet in our vehicles. So: As a wanderer you know the problem. Can I make it to a hut every night, or do I have to go to the tent in the open prairie - with all the accompanying circumstances? We bring the solution for the camper in the motorhome. And notice: The toilets are in high demand. Especially women do not necessarily want to run over the campsite at night.
And how do you stand for showering in a van?
For vehicles of our size, opinions are divided. Some say: No, shower only when it has to be absolute. But the athletes on the go, surfers, mountain bikers or racing cyclists, like to use the shower when they are silty or sweaty - as an outdoor shower or wet cell.
Who hears Westfalia, first has a VW bus in mind - the Bulli. Can you describe the special relationship of your company to VW?
This is indeed influential, many have spent their youth with such a VW camper. For decades, Volkswagen has been running the Bullis on tracks in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, where we have been making them campers since 1951. Then VW has distributed the finished campers on its own dealer network. It was a very good partnership - for both parties over many years.
When you were brought to Westfalia Mobil in 2011, the good times were over. How did the bankruptcy happen?
In 1999, the family of entrepreneurs sold Westfalia in three units. The new owner of our motorhome unit, which made the extensions for original manufacturers, was the Daimler AG. So it broke with Volkswagen. VW said then: Why should Daimler earn on our vehicles? And therefore decided to build up an own development work for the Bulli near Hanover.
Can you understand that?
For sure. That was not a reaction of defiance, but economic calculation: One wanted to make sure that one does not support a competitor directly financially.
Did the plan for Daimler build motorhomes?
To integrate an originally medium-sized company into a large group is a difficult task. Although Mercedes had control and brought with the models Marco Polo and James Look the added value in the house. But since the acquisition Westfalia was not profitable. Daimler has repeatedly had to nachschießen and sold us in 2007 to the private equity investor Aurelius. He has filed for bankruptcy in 2010. At that time it was not foreseeable that a recovery would set in.
Personal
Mike Reuer worked for ten years at night Manufacturer Bavaria in customer service, quality management and sales manager before he became managing director of Concorde motorhomes. In 2011 he moved to the then crisis-ridden competition Westfalia. The trained electrical engineer, who enjoys skiing and mountain biking, also likes to tour the motorhome privately.
How did the rescue succeed?
The French Rapido Group, which is expanding its own van, was very interested in the continuation of the Westfalia business during the bankruptcy. The acquisition was a stroke of luck, as Rapido is family-run and the fifth largest motorhome manufacturer in Europe. Expensive corporate structures are far from us. The owner Pierre Rousseau, who brought me, is accustomed to make pragmatic decisions.
Sounds like two soul mates have met. Where could you identify growth potential?
We saw the construction of our own vehicles as a great opportunity. Otherwise we are always hanging on the drip of the automotive industry. So since 2011 we are again pushing the development of our own models such as Columbus and Amundsen on Fiat basis or the Club Joker based on the VW van. For VW, we no longer manufacture anything on behalf of us, but we are a VW customer, buy their base vehicles, build them on their own account and sell them ourselves. We already achieve about 50 percent of our sales with such proprietary business.
What are your core markets - and how did you open them up? The company was indeed on the ground.
Unfortunately, we lost all our own traders in the bankruptcy phase. In addition to building its own product line, it was about building a dealer network in Europe. One thing was clear: we can not afford to supply the whole world. First of all, we set up a dealer network in Germany and parallel in France, where we were able to integrate the Rapido dealers. Today, England and Scandinavia are also among our core markets. Not to be underestimated are Switzerland and the Benelux, where motorhomes are very popular.
"It is precisely our task to bring younger people into the motorhome"
In your advertising you like to play the card "Freedom". What does your typical customer look like? Young and daring?
Especially we have the task to bring younger people into the motorhome, otherwise we have a real problem in 15 years. Currently the average motorhome customer is over 60 years old. So we want to convince people in mid-30s or 40s to drive the motorhome as a 365-day family car. This is only possible with a compact van, with which I come to normal parking spaces and ideally in underground garages.
Two meters are the maximum. That's what it's about ... right
. And therefore the market segment of box cars with pitch roofs is growing the strongest. They are suitable for everyday use and are not damned as a second car to stand around. With a Mercedes Marco Polo or VW Club Joker City you can drive to work, bring the kids to school, go shopping. And at the weekend only the bikes come in or the kayak on top. If you go to a party, you do not have to book a room - you stay in the vehicle.
Will convenience in camping become more important?
Quite clear: the demands for comfort are growing. "Only me and nature" - you have to say goodbye to this puristic idea. Today, an interior design not only has to be functional. The customers want to feel good. Even if you can not open the sliding door for three days in bad weather. It's a little bit like home.
A feeling of home on only eight square meters ...?
It is in addition to sleeping comfort and intelligent details much to look and feel. Modern surfaces are important and light and dark contrasts. This can be seen in the new Marco Polo: The design language that Mercedes offers in the V-Class in the front area with a topchic cab, we had to continue to the rear. There are customers who say: Hmm, almost too modern for a camper. But in the end they take the beautiful.
VW plans for 2018 the E-Bulli. When do you expect the Stromer breakthrough in the motorhome market?
Overall, the issue will come as a result of CO₂ restrictions and customer demand, but currently there has not been a good approach in the camper area. Honestly, we do not have that either. Already empty, the vehicles weigh 2.8 tons, you would need the super battery. Even bigger is the problem to make room for the batteries, because it competes with the already limited storage space.
"We pay as one of the few manufacturers the collective wage"
They have recently focused on labor costs in East Westphalia.
I'm not happy with that, I'd like to keep it down, but I have to deal with it. We pay as one of the few motorhome manufacturers the collective wage of IG Metall. Workers in production also receive a performance bonus of 30 percent, which no other manufacturer pays in the amount. This restricts our competitiveness. So we have to be efficient. This can only work if the quantities pass through accordingly. This works well at the moment, but remains a risk factor.
Even a production relocation was in discussion. Westfalia from Eastern Europe?
We were definitely in Germany. We seriously thought about it and were ready to flip the switch. But we had a decent agreement, that was successful. You can not want to increase production on the one hand and argue with the workforce on the other. That will not go well.
One question still has to be: you wear an earring on the left - old maritime tradition?
No, I've always worn that. I am being approached in manager circles more often. It is not common for managers to wear an earring. But it's part of me and you will not get changed.
The motorhome manufacturer Westfalia
From Bullis, up and down
Until 1844, the roots of the company reach out to Wiedenbrück. Founded as a blacksmith, the East Westphalian entrepreneurial family Knöbel entered the mobile business at an early stage. The focus was initially on the construction of heavy horse-drawn carriages. In 1951, the first camper van was built on a VW basis - a British officer had made this request. With ruffled window curtains, sofa bed, sideboard and folding table he became a dream car of the 1950s - and went as a "camping box" in series. The Bulli myth was born.
Westfalia justified a boom of the campers: From 1977, the Mercedes-Benz van "James Cook" along with his wet cell to blockbuster, the racer of the 80s is the VW T3 expansion called "Joker", even Ford leaves his "nugget" from Westfalia to the motorhome.
Westfalia came into spinning in the 1990s, also due to disputes between the owners. The Knöbel family sold the company split in 1999 into three separate lots. But even after Daimler AG took over the RV part in 2001, business did not get any better. Bankruptcy was registered in 2010, but in 2011, the French, medium-sized Rapido Group took over the company, which now operates as Westfalen Mobil GmbH.
Strong uptrend
Since 2015, business at Westfalia is booming again. The number of employees was increased from 177 to 244 employees, sales increase, according to the CEO Mike Reuer from 42 million euros to approximately 65 million euros. For Mercedes, Ford and PSA one expands between 3,800 and 4,000 vehicles, in addition to a growing interest in the in-house developments. "There we will make a jump on 500 pieces," predicts Reuer.”
Linear Mode
