The following is a report from Gordon White at TruckCamper.com.
General Coach returns to truck campers with two all-new hard side models. Focused on the high-end, Citation Explore campers feature premium appliances and a modern aesthetic sure to grab attention. Citation is back!
A few weeks back we received an email from the leadership team at General Coach Canada announcing their new Citation Explore truck camper line. We were bowled over by the news that General Coach was returning to truck campers, and thrilled when we saw the modern Citation truck campers they are bringing to market.
Then we had questions; lots of questions. You see, the last time we spoke to the leadership team at General Coach was in late 2008. Fifteen years ago, General Coach manufactured Citation truck campers out of Oliver, British Columbia. Sadly, the Great Recession forced many companies to make difficult choices. In early 2009, General Coach shut their Oliver facility and their Citation truck camper line with it.
Up to that point, hard side and slide-out Citation truck campers were well regarded for their aluminum framing, vacuum-bonded walls and top-notch insulation qualities. Citation was, for many, an aspirational camper truck camper brand. When Angela and I would talk about the camper companies we had lost and wished would return, Citation was always very high on our list.
Which brings us to 2024 and my questions. For starters, is General Coach going to build Citation the same way as before? Are the new floorplans based on the old ones, or are they ground-up new designs? What material makes the inside walls so bright and shiny? And what’s the story behind that huge front window?
Fortunately, the General Coach leadership team was eager to answer our many questions. It turns out they’re equally excited to be getting back to truck campers and have quite the story about what happened to Citation campers fifteen years ago, how they moved truck camper production roughly 3,100 kilometers (1,926 miles) east to Ontario, and what the front window is all about. As they explain it, the new Citation Explore campers started with that front window.
Read the full story, featuring a Q&A with Chris Faulkner, vice president of General Coach Canada, here.