This is a blog boing back several years to when Brenderup Quit manufacturing in the USA. Scroll down to look through articles that may be helpful. Call me any time with questions. Jeff Kurtz, 717-620-9676

Monday, December 16, 2013

A dealer's update on what happened to Brenderup and comments about Böckmann trailers.

This note was received from a reader who received it from a former Brenderup dealer in Dec, 2013:

Attached is the spec page from the Brenderup brochure.    Brenderup Real Trailers (the U.S. distributor) had one brochure to cover all of their long-offered models.  The Horseliner was offered for a few years in the States and was not available when the brochure was printed.  I tended to think of the Horseliner as a decontented Prestige (for horses to 16 hands), so the Prestige dimensions apply.  If I recall correctly, the Horseliner empty weight is 1400 lbs. and the GVWR is 3500 lbs.  If you look at the Horseliner, you should be able to verify the GVWR on the ID plate for the trailer.
 
I forgot to answer your question about whether Brenderups will again be offered in the States.  The door is open, but I doubt it will happen.  Brenderup has been owned for several years by Thule, the company well known for car top carriers and sport racks.   Brenderup Real Trailers (the folks in Midland, Texas, that Americans thought of as Brenderup) was actually an independent distributor.  They imported parts and assembled the trailers in Texas.  They did all the North American marketing and created the informational DVD you may have heard mentioned.    Trailer manufacturers are tiny compared to auto manufacturers.  A trailer company that produces 1000-2000 horse trailers a year is actually a good-sized manufacturer.  I estimate that Real Trailers sold about 400 Brenderups a year before the economy crashed.  Considering that fuel in the States is relatively inexpensive, 400 units a year is a pretty good total (in my opinion) for a niche product.  Which brings us back to Thule.  Sales weren’t good enough for them.  They threatened to appoint a new distributor, so the folks in Texas built a much larger facility and moved into it in the summer of 2008.  And we all know what happened in September 2008.  I suspect that a combination of higher cost structure and near-depression economy are the reasons why Real Trailers closed, although I’m sure we’ll never hear that from either side of the Atlantic.  The running gear on the North American trailers was the same as that of the European trailers (chassis, axles, brakes, Inertia brake mechanism in the tongue), but the Solid Phenolic Core (SPC) walls were a North American innovation and lights and safety chains were arranged for North America.  Since some details were different for America, apparently Thule decided to see if someone would step in to fill the role of Real Trailers rather than perform the modifications on the European production line.   Even though we’re a big country, because of cheap gas, I think Thule sees us as a small market (and I can’t fault them for that).  (However, we dealt with another trailer company that Thule bought, so we had two different windows to see how Thule operates.  I was impressed, but not in a good way.  Their racks are excellent, but if I need something and have a viable other-than-Thule alternative, I’ll buy the other product.)
 
Since we discussed the Böckmanns briefly (“Boeckmann” if no umlaut available), I’ve included a scanned image of a 2-page flyer so you can see some of the models I mentioned.  The Champion R (for horses to 17 hands) caught on for us this year and has been very popular.  It’s about the same size as the Brenderup Royal series.  The Portax (for horses to 18 hands) was popular for us from the start and is still popular.  They’re showing the 2012 style Portax on this flyer.  The design changed slightly for 2013, but overall, it’s very similar.  (Also, they’re showing the Portax AK, which has a front unload ramp.  The most popular Portaxes have one or two front doors instead of the front ramp.)  The Big Master is Böckmann’s Baron-sized trailer.   All of the Böckmanns are about 4” taller than the Brenderups.  The body length of the Big Master is about the same as that of the Baron and the Big Master is about 4-5 inches wider. 
 
The  trai are assembled in the German factory, so they’re not reliant on a North American assembly facility.  The trailers have been imported into Canada for about 10 years, so there’s an established support infrastructure, which we thought would be reassuring to folks who might have been skittish after the sudden closing of Brenderup Real Trailers (after nearly 30 years in the North American market). 
 
This Böckmann info was intended to be informational, since you seemed to be curious about the trailers.  Hope it didn’t sound too sales-pitchy.  I wasn’t trying to talk you out of the used Brenderups, as a good one can provide many years of excellent service.
 
I enjoyed our conversation.  If you have any questions, feel free to email or call.
 
Regards,
Jon

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