RVBusiness Names Brinkley Model I the 2025 RV of the Year – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
EDITOR’S NOTE: The full article can be found in the November/December issue of RVBusiness, the print edition of which should be arriving in subscribers’ mailboxes this week. Click here to read the digital edition.
Manufacturing — in any industry — is usually fueled by a new player coming in with the professed ability to produce and deliver a product faster, cheaper or better than anything else available. Those that score the proverbial “hat trick” by meeting all three objectives tend to find quick acceptance; even hitting two of three often gives companies a foothold.
Focusing on just one, though, is a gamble — which makes the performance of Brinkley RV all the more impressive.
Established less than three years ago by a handful of veteran industry executives who have collectively spend decades in the RV industry — Nate Goldenberg, Micah Stanley, Ryan Thwaits and Bill and Ron Fenech — the startup was founded upon neither speed nor cost. Instead, it was intent upon building “better” — combining new concepts coupled with a drive towards eliminating many of the design drawbacks the partners were all too familiar with while working at other RV companies.
That intent was encapsulated first in Brinkley RV’s Model Z fifth-wheel, which earned a spot among finalists for the RVBusiness 2023 RV of the Year, and again last year, when it’s Model G fifth-wheel toy hauler was one of just 10 RVs considered for the 2024 honor. And since no startup company had previously witnessed its first two models ranked among the RV industry’s best, it’s a safe bet that none has ever followed up in quite the manner Brinkley has with its Model I travel trailer.
The Brinkley RV Model I travel trailer is, by wide acclaim among the RVBusiness staff, the 2025 RV of the Year.
“Until now, our focus has been fifth-wheels and higher-end trailers; this gets us into the ‘meat’ of the market, allowing an average buyer to get into a Brinkley,” said Thwaits, who led the Model I’s design team. “Because of the way we build our product and the quality of the equipment we use, we’re never going to be the cheapest, but it serves as our ‘entry level’ product for campers that want to get into a lightweight or have had a laminated trailer and want to step up to one with nicer amenities.”
