Someone said that Foretravel has made there last in house Chassis it is just a blanket statement?
It is my understanding that Foretravel will use a new custom chassis from Spartan that is made to copy the existing Travelride unit currently produced. Due to new fed EPA rules that make the motorhome chassis manufacturer responsible for all compliance as to smog etc. Foretravel would have had to invest heavily in meeting these goals. That is why the new units will be Spartan.
It is why I said the realm would be important to FT. They got experience building on it and now they will all be built on a spartan it seems. Sad to see this but the refs are too tough for a small company to meet.
Maybe the regulations will change, but the damage is done. I don't understand why the chassis maker (instead of the engine maker) is responsible for the smog stuff.
There are so few RV's out there, they should be exempt.
IIRC, it's actually because of the engine changes at Cummins driving a new cooling package. The engine maker IS responsible for the emissions, but not how things like cooling are physically implemented. They spec the cooling requirements, but the design falls on the chassis manufacturer.
Tyle Fore discussed this with us a few year ago (when Cummins redesigned the ISX after the 2007-2010 version) and mentioned then that it had become very expensive (nearly cost-prohibitive) for FT to deal with the more frequent engine/cooling changes and the resulting need for chassis redesign to accommodate.
The Spartan chassis I looked at a Pomona FMCA had a massive radiator. Big square design.
This was in the cards for a long time and while we saw it and FT knew it was coming, I figured it would be a perfect time to make some big changes at FT. The Realm was the first one as the will all be on Spartans now. And I figured the smaller chassis that they were using and just putting the box on would be a great smaller coach. Oh well, I got one right and Foretravel still does not make a smaller coach though I hear they are converting a van. That is still a class b and not a smaller coach. Three long time members have sold and now own in the 24-29 foot coaches and there are a couple others I know who are looking.
It works both ways, though. You and several others are moving down, and would love to consider a FT smaller RV. What about the others that need to be introduced to the FT brand in a smaller RV...and then will move up!???!!
True and hearing they are converting their first prevost in twenty years is exciting.