BMW Buys Airstream; Markets MINI RV

As one of the select few car companies on the planet currently making money, BMW has purchased RV trailer-maker Airstream at a “fire sale” price. Reason? Who needs a reason?

It’s called the Silver Bullet, the trimline stainless steel 50’s retro trailer you’ve seen being pulled countless times behind trucks and SUV’s all across America. But the times they are a changin’, and those big trucks and SUVs are being garaged in favor of more fuel-efficient vehicles like your beloved MINI. So… when you put two and two together you get the logical marriage of MINI and Airstream.

“I’ll be honest. Sales were in the dumper. No one was buying our trailers in this economy.” Said Roy Hagen, CEO of Airstream. “When BMW approached us and explained how the recreational travel market was the one they hadn’t hit yet, it all fell into place.”

Jan Stellar, a MINI retailer in Palo Alto California, has lined up to be first to sell the pair, expecting delivery as soon as July. “MINIs are the coolest cars. Airstream is the coolest trailer. People are going to save money on travel and look cool doing it. This is going to be great for business, no doubt about it.”

The Airstream features a custom interior designed by Copenhagen’s “Republic of Fritz Hansen”, the design team most famous for its sleek rainwear line and who recently decorated the post-modern Danish palace. It’s taken a new approach to trailer design, to be sure, eschewing the traditional kitchen/dinette for surfboard racks and bat-winged swivel chairs. There is, however, a small refrigerator and a composting toilet located discretely in the rear.

“People are vacationing differently these days. Access to cheap eats and junk food is everywhere in America, so they’re not cooking anymore,” says Hansen. “Yanks just want to have fun, and so we took the drudgery completely out of the experience and made it surfboard ready. Fat people don’t drive MINIs anyway.”

BMW America chief Jurgen Weiner added “The brand, the lifestyle, the look… they all fit perfectly with MINI. And we were able to gobble Airstream up at a real fire sale price. Sort of like buying a bit of America.”

What’s next? Harley Davidson?

“We’re looking at that, actually.”

The company does have blueprints for other, non-surfer-related designs, including a NASCAR version replete with a removable barbecue and beer dispenser. Says Hansen “That one really captures the new spirit of America. It will include a large-screen plasma TV, bench seats, an iPod pre-loaded with top Country hits and a nav system pre-loaded with directions to every NASCAR racetrack in America.”

Now that sounds too good to be true. Which it is. Happy April everyone.