In a Des Moines country club, Mary Gottschalk clicked her slideshow to show three RVs to a crowd of Rotarians breakfasting on scrambled eggs and oatmeal.
On the screen appeared an antique, stainless steel teardrop trailer, a hulking, turquoise motorhome and a red camper van topped with a matching kayak.
She surprised viewers with which was a Winnebago before introducing Winnebago Industries CEO Michael Happe to the podium.
Iowa-born Winnebago, famous for its big, boxy motorhomes, is in the midst of a major makeover designed to appeal to a wider base of buyers — and Happe is the man leading the transformation.
The company has rolled out a line of all-electric vehicles and ponied up half a billion dollars to acquire a wunderkind towable business in Grand Design.
Perhaps most notably, Winnebago purchased luxury boat-maker Chris-Craft, signaling its interest in expanding its empire beyond traditional RVs, the Des Moines Register reports.
Winnebago has seen its fortunes rise during that time, aided by one of the U.S. economy’s longest expansions ever. Winnebago earned more than $2 billion in fiscal year 2018 — nearly 10 times larger than 2009’s earnings of about $211 million.
