Summit Negotiates to Export Its Campers

Summit Industries, an Oxnard camper manufacturer, is negotiating to export its products to Great Britain, Europe and Australia--deals that would more than double the company’s size, according to Ken Kutcher, president.

Summit now sells about 40 campers a year in the United States and Japan. The units, which customers then mount on truck chassis, cost $50,000 or more, and come complete with kitchens and toilets, Kutcher said. “They can sleep six comfortably,” he added.

For the Japanese market, where the units are called “cabins,” they’re scaled down to 6 feet 4 inches in width, compared to 8 feet for the U. S. market.

“Japanese trucks and roads are narrower than those in this country,” Kutcher said. , adding that the narrower widths will also be used in the British, European and Australian markets.

“We’re close to signing an exclusive deal with an automotive company for Europe and Great Britain,” he said. “We’re talking to another company about Australia.”

Summit was founded in 1989 by Kutcher and his father, Herb, who is vice president. The firm has only 10 employees, “but I’m sure that will at least double in the coming year,” Ken Kutcher said. He added that recreational vehicle sales appear to be recovering from a slowdown that hit the industry in the past two years.