Sharon, the owner of Aroma Coffee Hut down the street from EarthCruiser HQ, is a pretty happy camper these days. Why? Well mostly because of the amount of coffee we are consuming these days to make sure all is prepared for Overland Expo West, but also because she helped plant a seed in our overly caffeinated minds.
Since the release of the GZL truck camper back in October 2017, most customers have been overly satisfied with the premium options it comes standard with. There is, however, a growing contingent of interested people who love the GZL concept but don’t need all the bells and whistles. Easy fix we thought, we’ll just slim down the GZL features and offer a base model. Our team got to work and soon found out this was much harder than it seemed. Unlike other campers made from welded aluminum or wood frames, the construction of the GZL is unique. Everything was purposefully designed, and once we started separating components it went from the harmonious connection of function and luxury into a bad marriage.
Frustrated, we went to get more coffee. Waiting as Sharon whipped up a large Americano, we found ourself pondering over a little chalkboard where she writes daily quotes. The daily quote was from Henning Mankell; “Many people make the mistake of confusing information with knowledge. They are not the same thing. Knowledge involves the interpretation of information. Knowledge involves listening.” Pondering this quote we decided to start asking customers why they wanted a slimmed down version of the GZL, and in what ways were they planning to use it. By listening intently to our customers we found knowledge, and through this knowledge, MOD was created.
MOD stands for My Own Design and it is backbone on which we began development of this camper. Most customers we spoke with are coming from some typical camping set up, and already own a lot of the gear that they will continue to camp with. What they most want is a living and sleeping quarters during the times they don’t want to be outside, and is rugged enough to travel to their most favorite remote campsite.
The MOD concept gives the customer this flexibility. Our goal is to create is a base interior that can be as open or as outfitted as needed. Check out the video below that gives you a sneak peak of the MOD concept.
Interested in our new concept MOD, please email GZLsales@earthcruiser.com
