Cambridge campervan and RV company back on track after bumpy road

Roadtrek marks 50 years in the RV business A Cambridge-based RV manufacturer is celebrating a new chapter. As Tyler Kelaher explains, Roadtrek is back after a bumpy few years.

A Cambridge company is celebrating 50 years and looking forward to the future just years after it barely survived financial turmoil.

Roadtrek Inc., a company credited with revolutionizing the campervan and RV manufacturing industry, was on the brink of collapse in 2019. The company was put into receivership by Erwin Hymer North America in February 2019. Staff were terminated and the company was put up for sale.

More than 800 people lost their jobs.

But today, the company’s new owners say the path ahead looks much smoother.

“We have a strong financial stability, a consistent and bright future,” Roadtrek Inc. CEO Massimiliano Miletto Petrazzini told CTV News Kitchener.

The company offers six mid-sized RV models.

From the brink of collapse

The company was purchased by a French group, Rapido, a few months after the massive layoffs in 2019.

Today, the facility boasts 110 employees, with space to bring in more if demand continues to grow.

Former president Jeff Hanemaayer ran Roadtrek when he was 21-years-old after his father founded the company in the 70s.

He told CTV his dad’s goal was to design a better RV than what was already on the market.

“[The company] started with my father’s idea of a product. I grew the company, and it’s really great to see that legacy continue. It would have been a shame if it died because of the dark years under Erwin Hymer Group ownership.”

Hope for the future

Roadtrek hosted a three-day festival on Guelph Lake Island to mark the company’s 50th anniversary.

The event was more than just a celebration of survival. The company also used the festival as an opportunity to introduce new people to the RV lifestyle.

“When we travel to the States, we see them everywhere,” Roadtrek owner Lyne Webb said. “They’re a very popular brand. I think it’s great for the Kitchener-Waterloo area to have this calibre of business.”

It was also an opportunity to look ahead to what may still be coming down the road.

“We are going to start to design a couple of new models this fall,” Petrazzini said.