How long to build an A class?

[Swamp]

Morning Funsters,
We’ve got a Rapido A class on order which is due at the end of October.
Never having bought a motorhome new before, I’m trying to get a rough idea of how long the build process takes. Would you expect Rapido to have started our van yet?
I’ve asked the dealer for the chassis number but told it’s not available which suggests to me the chassis isn’t with Rapido yet….

 

[ianp]

Morning Funsters,
We’ve got a Rapido A class on order which is due at the end of October.
Never having bought a motorhome new before, I’m trying to get a rough idea of how long the build process takes. Would you expect Rapido to have started our van yet?
I’ve asked the dealer for the chassis number but told it’s not available which suggests to me the chassis isn’t with Rapido yet….

I would think that that is a difficult question for anyone outside of the Rapido production control office to answer with any accuracy as the units are made on several production lines that are over stages married together to a finale which is when the unit drives off the end of the line just like a car assembly line though not quite as sophisticated. the whole from start to finish measured in hours. Back in the day when I maintained the CNC machining centres for Swift the lead time for production was around a day and a half at which point the lines would stop having run out of components, though the yards were then full of hundreds of vehicles awaiting modification etc...... so though the dealer has no info on your particular unit its quite feasible the vehicle is sat at Rapido awaiting it's turn or even sat at the OEM awaiting dispatch for when Rapido have room in the yard for it.....wheels within wheels.....

 

[Guigsy]

Morning Funsters,
We’ve got a Rapido A class on order which is due at the end of October.
Never having bought a motorhome new before, I’m trying to get a rough idea of how long the build process takes. Would you expect Rapido to have started our van yet?
I’ve asked the dealer for the chassis number but told it’s not available which suggests to me the chassis isn’t with Rapido yet….

The chassis might go through several stages of preparing and converting before they start mounting the body. It depends on how Rapido's build process works. I worked for a car manufacturer that would switch orders between body shells through many stages, past painting, right up until it hit the final assembly line and they started fitting things like the dashboard. It meant they could work around parts shortages by the minute. It meant they didn't have a chassis number tied to a customer until only a few hours before the car rolled off the line.

 

[Steve N Tracy]

The manufactures will have already started building next year's models as from June this cuts down build slots for this year's models.

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

Takes them about 45 mins on the you tube video so pretty quick

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[Ridgeway]

OK not a motorhome but when i consulted at Merc the numbers were 28hrs of production (assembly) time for an average C Class that had around 32,000 parts. OK different world but the bit we think of as “build” is very misleading in automotive manufacturing. The chassis from Fiat may have been with them for months but maybe it hasn’t been allocated to your build yet.

 

[CAB96]

End of October?

Which year!

 

[Guigsy]

The amount of time the production process takes isn't the issue. It's how big is their order backlog and how many parts are holding up production.