EarthRoamer revived but departing Lafayette

LAFAYETTE – Bill Swails and a few employees of EarthRoamer.com LLC have purchased the assets of the beleaguered manufacturer of luxury off-road vehicles and will be moving operations from Lafayette to Dacono.

EarthRoamer.com LLC, established by Swails and Michele Connelly, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2009 due to a lack of sales.

But Swails joined forces with former production manager Eric Rexroth and former service managers Tyler Tatro and Mike Funari to buy some assets of the company and form Xpedition Vehicle Service LLC, which will operate under the trade name EarthRoamer.

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Swails is the designer of EarthRoamer’s XV-LT and XV-JP Xpedition Vehicles.

The new company signed a long-term lease for production space at 5073 Silver Peak Ave in Long’s Peak Business Center in Dacono.

The new company is manufacturing EarthRoamer XV-LTs and providing repairs and upgrades at the old company’s headquarters at 1460 Overlook Drive in Lafayette until the new space is ready to be occupied in June.

A deal is in the works to sell EarthRoamer’s 56,000-square-foot headquarters and garage for approximately $5.4 million.

Swails said the new EarthRoamer company employs seven people, and the new business model won’t be as reliant on new-vehicle sales as in the past.

“Right now we can break even with the repair and upgrades for the 100 vehicles we already have made,” Swails said.

Ramping up

“We’re ramping back up, and we’ve taken orders on three vehicles this year,” he said. The vehicles sell for more than $100,000.

The four-wheel drive, turbo-diesel, Ford F-550 based EarthRoamer XV-LT is capable of running entirely on renewable biodiesel and solar energy. It uses a 0.5 kilowatt solar panel array and a 6.1 kilowatt per hour AGM battery bank. Biodiesel compatible air heaters, water heaters and stoves replace the propane appliances found on traditional RVs.

Following record sales in fourth-quarter 2007, EarthRoamer.com LLC moved into the new 56,000-square-foot corporate headquarters in February 2008 – just as diesel fuel prices began to climb higher than $4.50 per gallon.

Swails said the high fuel prices and a faltering economy caused a rapid drop in new vehicle sales and by midsummer 2008 the company had laid off half of its work force.

By the end of 2008, the company was unable to service the debt on the new corporate headquarters and had ceased operations.

Connelly, the first EarthRoamer’s president and chief executive, currently is seeking employment at the executive level. In her spare time she is helping her boyfriend launch his company, Simple Solutions Manufacturing, which makes after-market switch panels for Jeeps.