‘Affordable Overland’ Modern Buggy is Adding Dealers

Modern Buggy RV “Little Buggy” models are ready to ship at the company’s Edwardsburg, Mich. facility. (Photo: Modern Buggy RV)

EDWARDSBURG, Mich. – When Earl Williams purchased Modern Buggy RV (Mod-Bug) in February 2022, it was Williams’ first foray into the OEM side of the RV industry.

An industry veteran for 30 years – including a 10-year executive stint at Patrick Industries where he oversaw multiple business units and helped create the company’s studio design center – Mod-Bug President Williams says running Mod-Bug has been a learning experience.

“When I bought this business, I had just gotten out of the supplier side, then jumped in fully with both feet into the OEM side. All of a sudden, I found out what I was building was called ‘overland.’ I didn’t even know what that term meant,” Williams chuckled. “In 30 years of supplying RVs I just knew travel trailers, fifth-wheels and motorhomes. What is overland? There’s this giant community, really a huge movement to an off-the-grid, going-green theme. There are all these rallies and shows besides just the RV shows that are going on across the country. They’ll have thousands of attendees at some of these overland shows. They’re boondocking, they’re off the grid, electric car/truck compatible. So that’s kind of where our sweet spot has been. I would call us the most affordable overland out there.”

Earl Williams

The most recent news at Mod-Bug is the expansion of the company’s dealer network with the addition of General RV and TravelCamp RV – two of the biggest dealers to join a growing stable of more than 25 others.

With the addition of these two dealers, Mod-Bug travel trailers will be available in places like Utah, Tennessee, Florida, the Carolinas and Texas, expanding the firm’s reach from its previous, more regional footprint.

It’s all part of William’s effort to put the company – founded in late 2019 by Wally Holem – on a fast track for growth. With 20 employees and growing, Modern Buggy currently operates in 30,000 square feet, producing between 60 and 70 units a month.

“It probably hasn’t been as fast as I wanted or thought, but we’ve really, I think, got it right now,” he said. “After I bought it, I kind of asked, ‘What are we missing?’ We took it to the Expo (Overland Expo West). I was fine-tuning it. And going out to the shows, I got a lot of feedback. The goal has been to take all the objections away. Why wouldn’t you buy mine over (a competitor)? And I heard things like I needed a standard air conditioner, or I needed to beef up our solar, or lower the weight of the units or increase the sleeping space. What if somebody needed a CPAP? So, we added 110 plugs on the inside.”

He and his team instituted an entire menu of changes that made Mod-Bug units more desirable in the overland market yet kept them affordable. Williams noted that many of his competitors’ units sell for $50,000 and up.

“We’ve got two products,” Williams said. “We’re under $20,000 on our small one. We’re under $28,000 on our bigger version. You can pull the smaller one with a Jeep Cherokee or an electric car. It’s just 1,100 pounds.”

The Little Buggy and Big Buggy both feature high-quality custom aluminum frames with AZDEL ceilings and walls, one-piece seamless fiberglass roofs, torsion axles, friction-hinge doors, heavy-duty grab handles and accessory hitches. The Little Buggy also offers a custom luggage rack.

Off-roading features on both models include all terrain tires, 14 inches of ground clearance and 2200/3,500-pound torsion axles.

The Little Buggy 10RK, at 12 feet, 6 inches, weighs in at 1,195 pounds. The 14-foot, 8-inch Big Buggy tips the scales at 2,150 pounds.

Dealer response has been very positive, Williams said.

“I took three units up to General to meet with their amazing team a few weeks ago and was out in the parking lot with their sales manager Bruce and inventory manager Geoff. Five minutes later there were multiple sales guys excitedly looking at the three units and they were impressed,” he said. “The next week we got the call saying, ‘Let’s go! Here are some orders.’ They’re looking at everything that’s out there today and their comment to me was that expectations were kind of low for us coming up there, but that our products were some of the best-looking and most well-built stuff they’ve seen in two or three years.”

Williams said General and TravelCamp are excited to grow the “affordable Overland” segment of their businesses with Modern Buggy, noting that TravelCamp’s orders have already started to ship. “Travel Camps owner Salem Hassan said his team is excited and ready to push the brand hard,” he added.

“Big things are ahead,” Williams said. “We already have some amazing new floor plans and features we will be adding soon.”

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/affordable-overland-modern-buggy-is-adding-dealers/