Making its first visit to the Florida RV SuperShow, Grech Motors showed the industry that its vast experience in building luxury shuttle buses translates well in into the B-van market.
Riverside, Calif.-based Grech raised eyebrows at the show, which runs through Sunday (Jan. 17) at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, with its all-new Strada Class B riding on an all-wheel-drive Mercedes Sprinter 170 chassis. The company’s first foray into the world of RVs is loaded with high-end features and components, much like the buses the company has been building since its founding in 1983 by Ed Grech.
Grech Motors is an industry leader in the minicoach industry, specializing in high-quality mid-size buses and Sprinter-based transport vans. According to the company, the focus has been on “innovation, trend-setting designs, elegant style, curb appeal, unrivaled quality, superior fit and finish, an exclusive level of standard equipment and the industry’s absolute best warranty and after-sale support.”
The Strada exemplifies that focus.
“We were a luxury shuttle bus manufacturer at the absolute top of our game,” said AJ Thurber, vice president of sales and marketing. “Unfortunately, that’s taken a backseat because of COVID. In the people-moving business, nobody is using buses or buying buses right now so it gave us the opportunity to expand into the RV market.”
It wasn’t too far a jump, because the company’s founder and its lead R&D director, David Reagan, were experienced RV builders, working with a company called Krystal Enterprises which built limos, stretch limos, motorcoach entertainer-sleepers and motorcoach limos.
“We’ve got the experience. We’ve got the manufacturing facility and we’ve got the ability,” Thurber said.
As a new player in the market, Grech’s goal is bold:
“We want to be the best in the market. We want to be the highest-end, the most luxurious, certainly the best quality and the best fit and function,” Thurber said.
Features – all standard – include Ultraleather seating surfaces, power sofa/bed with memory foam cushions, table mount system with swivel top, Italian hardwood cabinet doors, premium cabinet hardware, soft touch walls and headliner with LED accent lighting, Chilewich woven flooring with a three-quarter-inch composite subfloor, Automotion power window shades and full insulation.
The Strada also offers a standard air-ride suspension system by German manufacturer VB.
“It’s the only air suspension system that’s approved by Mercedes-Benz,” Thurber said. “Their suspension system completely removes the factory leaf springs. It’s a full air-ride suspension.”
Grech will stick with the Sprinter chassis for now, with no plans to build on the Ford Transit or Ram ProMaster. While the Strada is built on the 170 Sprinter chassis, plans are in the works for a build on the 140 Sprinter as well. The air-ride suspension will only be available on the 170, and all versions will be offered in rear-wheel-drive or four-by-four models.
Grech’s is employing a selective dealer network, said Jeff Ravenscroft, RV dealer sales manager, with only three dealers – Giant RV in southern California, McClain’s in the Dallas area and Campers Inn RV on the East Coast – currently offering the Strada.
“We want to take a very controlled roll-out of this product,” Ravenscroft said “Price integrity is everything to us. We wanted to make sure we fit with selected dealers and after interviewing a number of them, these three were the best to start.”
As manufacturing ramps up, he said, Grech will “take their recommendations on where to go from there.”
MSRP for the 2021 Strada is $204,990.
