文档介绍：Innovating a Classic at Airstream
Dicky Riegel; Gardiner Morse
Airstream; HBR
1,308 words
1 October 2003
Harvard Business Review
18
0017-8012
English
Copyright (c) 2003 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
Dicky Riegel invents the authentic; it’s his job. As Airstream’s president and CEO, Riegel must gingerly innovate a product line that thrives, in part, because it delivers on its promise to be genuine. Since the archetypal Airstreams first appeared in the 1930s, the immutable aluminum trailers have attracted a loyal, demanding customer base that cuts across demographic lines—from the legions of mainstream—American vacationers to elite customers like Jack Kennedy (he used one as a mobile office), NASA, Buckminster Fuller, and Tom Hanks. Since Thor Industries acquired pany in 1980, Airstream has generated consistent profits selling its premium-priced trailers (top-of-the-line models retail for $80,000). In the past 18 months, Airstream’s growth has outpaced the industry overall. HBR’s Gardiner Morse spoke with Riegel about Airstream’s iconic status and growing cachet. Following are edited excerpts of their conversation.
Airstream trailers are, basically, aluminum eggs on wheels. What accounts for their mystique?
Let me ask you a question: Have you ever placed your hands on the skin of an Airstream trailer? There is something a