Few names in the truck camper world carry as much weight as Lance.
For decades, the California-based company built a reputation for producing some of the most respected truck campers in North America. Mention the brand around a campfire, at a truck camper rally, or in an online forum, and you’ll hear the same sentiments repeated again and again:
“I loved the old Lance my grandparents had.”
“My parents owned a Lance.”
“Lance campers are the gold standard. They really hold their value.”
Today, Lance leadership is determined to ensure those conversations continue for generations to come.
Nearly a year after acquiring Lance Camper from REV Group, CEO Bill Rex and Director of Operations Matt Koverman sat down with Truck Camper Adventure to discuss the company’s progress, the challenges of rebuilding an iconic brand, and why listening—to customers, employees, and dealers—has become the driving force behind Lance’s next chapter.
A Historic Brand Finds Its Way Home
In June 2025, Bill Rex, his son Paul, and Matt Koverman acquired Lance Camper and immediately began addressing what they believed were the issues holding the venerable company back.
The first year has not been easy.
“We’ve had a lot of problems, a lot of issues,” Bill Rex admitted. “But the good news is things are the best they’ve been in years.”
The turnaround appears to be gaining momentum. April and May marked the strongest months under the new ownership, with more than 200 units delivered and retailed. For a company rebuilding after years of turbulence, that’s a significant milestone.
Truck Campers Are Booming
If there was any doubt about the popularity of truck campers, Lance’s recent sales performance quickly erases it. Truck campers currently outsell the company’s travel trailers by more than two to one, with the Squire 610, Lance 1172, and Lance 850 leading the charge.
“Campers are selling like crazy,” Rex said.
When the company was acquired, production hovered between 2.5 and 3 units per day. Today, Lance is producing more than five units daily and is actively working toward seven. The current goal is five truck campers and two travel trailers per day. Long term, leadership believes production could reach 10 to 12 units per day.
The company is confident demand exists to support that growth, particularly in the truck camper segment where Lance built its reputation.
That confidence reflects broader market trends. Truck campers offer a unique combination of mobility, versatility, and off-grid capability. They appeal to overlanders, hunters, anglers, remote workers, national park hoppers, and outdoor enthusiasts seeking freedom beyond traditional campgrounds. Lance remains one of the most recognizable brands in that niche.
The Quality Question
Throughout the conversation, one topic surfaced repeatedly: quality.
For years, some owners and dealers expressed concern that Lance’s quality had declined. Rex doesn’t dispute that perception. In fact, he welcomes the discussion. However, he draws an important distinction.
According to Rex, the safety and structural integrity of Lance products never disappeared. The engineering remained strong. What deteriorated were the details customers noticed immediately—fit and finish.
“The safety and structural integrity was still there,” he explained. “It was the little things.” Crooked curtains. Misaligned trim. Sticky window shades. Missing molding. Minor assembly issues that didn’t affect safety but created poor first impressions.
And in the RV business, first impressions matter. Those details became a major focus during the company’s first year under new ownership.
One encouraging sign came from a longtime dealer. Bill’s brother, Jim Rex, who has delivered Lance products to dealerships for years, recently returned from a visit with glowing feedback. According to Jim, the dealership owner told him:
“Go back and tell your brother these are the best campers we’ve seen since Jack and Jeff left.”
For Lance, that was one of the most meaningful compliments they could receive.
Returning to the Original Formula
A recurring theme throughout the discussion was restoration—not restoring in the sense of restoring a classic car or camper, but restoring the principles that made Lance successful in the first place.
That includes rebuilding relationships with smaller, independent dealers. Under previous ownership, Lance increasingly focused on large multi-store RV groups.
Koverman, who grew up on the dealership side of the RV business, believes the company’s roots lie elsewhere. Historically, Lance partnered with dealers who knew their customers personally and built long-term relationships within their communities. That’s the model leadership intends to return to.
The same philosophy applies internally. The company has held town hall meetings, organized employee appreciation events, and increased communication throughout the organization. Most importantly, according to Rex, leadership is listening.
Rex recalled a statement from controller Amy Rosete: “If you cut me, I bleed Lance.”
For him, comments like that reinforce the importance of listening to employees who have dedicated their careers to the company.
Koverman added that dealers want feedback acknowledged and customers want their concerns addressed. The company believes listening may be one of the company’s most powerful competitive advantages.
A Family Legacy Comes Full Circle
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the story is Bill Rex’s long connection to Lance.
His history in the RV industry stretches back more than half a century. In 1969, he worked for Dolphin Camper, one of Lance’s earliest competitors. The two companies were linked through family relationships and industry rivalries that became legendary in Southern California’s RV manufacturing community.
While Lance founders Dick Murray and Ron Mertes were building Lance, their cousin Wayne Mertes and his father Leonard founded Dolphin Camper Company. Although the companies competed fiercely, family ties often connected them, and Bill frequently found himself bridging the gap between the two organizations.
Over the decades, he rose from a minimum-wage employee to plant manager. After 13 years, he left to become president of Establishment, a motorhome company later acquired by Thor Industries. He eventually founded Rexhall Industries, which became a well-known name in the RV business.
Yet Lance Campers remained part of the story.
Bill knew Jack Cole, the longtime plant manager who ultimately acquired Lance and helped build it into the respected brand it became. The two remain friends today. Many employees worked at both companies over the years, and Bill even worked alongside some of Lance’s longtime employees more than 40 years earlier at Dolphin.
That institutional knowledge is proving invaluable.
The Lance Logo is Back
One of the first things visitors notice when entering Lance today is something surprisingly simple: the original Lance logo is back. For many customers, that change carries symbolic importance.
Previous ownership introduced a redesigned logo that never fully connected with longtime Lance enthusiasts.
Paul Rex quickly pushed to restore the classic branding. Business cards were redesigned. Signs were updated. Marketing materials changed. Even old banners throughout the facility became candidates for replacement.
Why? Because heritage matters. Brands with six decades of history don’t need reinvention. They need stewardship.
As Bill Rex put it, changing a beloved logo can be like changing Mickey Mouse’s ears. Customers develop emotional attachments to familiar symbols. The classic Lance logo represents memories, adventures, and family traditions. Bringing it back signals a return to the values that made Lance great in the first place.
Product Improvements Already Underway
Beyond the improvements in fit and finish, Lance is quietly making changes throughout its product lineup. Some of those upgrades are obvious. Others are happening behind the scenes where most customers may never see them. But that’s often where the most important improvements live.
Stronger materials, refined processes, better components, and smarter engineering decisions may not stand out during a walk-through at a dealership, but they can make a world of difference after years of use. In the RV industry, durability isn’t measured on delivery day—it’s measured years down the road when owners are still enjoying their campers with confidence.
Pricing has also received considerable attention as Lance works to better align its products with today’s market realities and customer expectations.
According to Koverman, few people understand the Lance customer better than Gary Conley, Director of Sales and a remarkable 42-year veteran of the brand. Having spent decades working with dealers, customers, and product development teams, Conley has become an invaluable source of insight as Lance evaluates everything from product packaging to pricing strategy.
One area that quickly stood out was the growing number of option packages being offered across the lineup.
“We’re no longer pushing extensive option packages that many dealers and customers simply weren’t interested in,” Koverman explained.
Instead, Lance is taking a more practical approach—focusing on the features customers genuinely value while eliminating unnecessary complexity. The goal is simple: offer campers that are easier to understand, easier to order, and better equipped to meet the needs of today’s buyers without forcing them to pay for options they may never use.
One Secret Behind Lance’s Reputation
One of the most interesting revelations involved Lance’s engineering process.
Bill Rex described an extensive archive that tracks nearly every component used in every model the company has produced.
Need a replacement part for a decades-old camper? There’s a good chance Lance can identify it. Need to understand how a wall, cabinet, or plumbing system was assembled years ago? The documentation likely exists.
This attention to detail is one reason Lance campers continue to retain strong resale value. Owners know support remains available long after the initial purchase.
The downside is that engineering changes take time. Every modification requires review. Drawings must be updated. Components documented. Systems analyzed.
For a company trying to move quickly, the process can feel slow. But Rex believes the long-term benefits outweigh the inconvenience.
Building for Modern Trucks
Another major focus for Lance is ensuring its campers evolve alongside the trucks carrying them. While truck campers have always depended on the capabilities of pickup trucks, today’s trucks are vastly different from those of just a decade ago.
Once again, Koverman credits Gary Conley’s decades of experience for helping the company navigate those changes.
“Gary has seen multiple generations of trucks come and go,” Koverman explained. “That knowledge is incredibly valuable when you’re designing products for a market that’s constantly changing.”
Lance has seen particularly strong interest in models such as the Squire 610 and 605, campers designed to better align with the payload capacities of today’s half-ton and 3/4-ton trucks. Those products reflect a growing trend within the industry as consumers look for campers that maximize capability without exceeding the payload limits of their trucks.
Weight remains one of the most important—and often misunderstood—topics in truck camper ownership. That’s why Lance Campers places a strong emphasis on customer education, helping buyers understand payload ratings and the importance of properly matching a camper to a truck.
The reality, however, is that many owners continue to push those limits in pursuit of larger floorplans and additional amenities. Finding the right balance between comfort, capability, and weight has become one of the defining challenges facing truck camper manufacturers today.
The Next Generation Takes the Wheel
While Bill Rex provides leadership and vision, he repeatedly emphasized that the future belongs to the next generation.
Vice Pres., Paul Rex, plays a critical role in manufacturing operations and new product development. Director of Operations Matt Koverman is helping modernize outreach efforts while expanding the dealer network.
Together, they represent a younger generation committed to preserving Lance’s heritage while moving the company forward.
Another key contributor is Garrett Conley National Service and Warranty Manager (son of Director of Sales Gary Conley), Garrett also helps in sales and a wide range of operational responsibilities while working to rebuild Lance’s reputation.
Bill speaks proudly about all three. What initially began as concern about passing the torch has evolved into admiration and respect for the work they’re doing.
At the same time, leadership is quick to credit the employees. “We’re only as good as the people we work with,” Rex said. According to company leadership, more than 110 employees have over eight years of experience with Lance. Many have 20 to 30 years of tenure, and two employees have more than 40 years with the company.
That’s the foundation they believe makes Lance different.
Walking in the Customer’s Shoes
One of the more telling moments during our visit happened when VP Paul Rex wasn’t there.
While Truck Camper Adventure sat down with Bill Rex and Matt Koverman, Paul was out doing something arguably more important than attending meetings—he was camping with his family in his own Lance 1191.
That wasn’t a publicity stunt or a carefully staged marketing exercise. It was part of a larger philosophy taking root within the company: if you’re going to build products for campers, you should spend time camping in them.
Paul recently began using a Lance 1191 on personal trips to gain firsthand insight into the ownership experience. The goal isn’t simply to enjoy a weekend away. It’s to better understand how customers actually use their campers—what works well, what could be improved, and how the product performs in real-world conditions far away from the factory floor.
That hands-on approach reflects a mindset Bill Rex believes is essential to building great products.
“If I can’t trust my family in our product, how could we expect anyone else to?” Bill Rex said.
The idea of employees using Lance products isn’t entirely new. After learning that Lance once maintained company campers for management and longtime employees to enjoy, Paul decided to revive the spirit of that tradition. Rather than keeping the camper exclusively for himself, he created a sign-up schedule allowing employees to borrow and use his Lance 1191 for their own family adventures.
The benefits extend far beyond employee morale. Every trip becomes an opportunity for feedback. Every campsite becomes a testing ground. Every weekend on the road provides valuable insight into the ownership experience that can’t be replicated in a conference room or design meeting.
It’s a simple gesture, but it speaks volumes about the culture Lance is trying to rebuild. The company doesn’t just want to sell campers. It wants its employees—from the front office to the factory floor—to experience the product the same way customers do.
After all, some of the best ideas don’t come from spreadsheets or boardrooms. They come from a rainy weekend in the mountains, a family campout at the lake, or a long day on the road when a camper either exceeds expectations—or reveals an opportunity to improve.
At Lance, that’s becoming part of the process.
Looking Ahead
As Lance approaches the one-year anniversary of its rebirth under new ownership, optimism is growing. Production is climbing. Orders remain strong. Dealers are noticing improvements. Customers are responding positively.
The company is preparing to build new models, updated interiors, refreshed styling, and additional innovations expected to debut in the coming months.
But perhaps the biggest change isn’t visible on a spec sheet. It’s cultural. The renewed emphasis is on listening. Listening to employees. Listening to dealers. Listening to customers. Listening to the market. For a brand built on generations of loyalty, that may be the most important improvement of all.
Lance spent decades earning the trust of campers, adventurers, and RV enthusiasts across North America. According to Bill Rex, restoring that trust is the mission.
Or as many longtime Lance fans might put it: The legend isn’t being reinvented. It’s being rediscovered.
For more information about Lance Campers or to get a quote on one of their top models, email the company directly at garyc@lancecamper.com.
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