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Featherlite Trailers

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Featherlite Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryTrailers, Transportation
Founded1973
HeadquartersCresco, Iowa USA
Websitewww.fthr.com

Featherlite Trailers is an all-aluminum trailer manufacturer, located in Cresco, Iowa. It has the distinction of being the oldest all-aluminum trailer brand in the United States. The company tagline is “Safe. Secure. Smart.”

History

The Featherlite brand name was first established in 1973 when the company created the first all-aluminum gooseneck livestock trailer. The brand was started in Oklahoma. Featherlite Manufacturing Inc., located in Grand Meadow, Minnesota, acquired the brand and established itself as a company in 1988. The company relocated to Cresco, Iowa in 1993. In 1998, the company changed its name to Featherlite Inc.[1]

Featherlite is closely associated with NASCAR. The company rose to prominence in the sport when it created the first ever custom aluminum race car semi trailer for legendary NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt. Today Featherlite supplies 85 percent of NASCAR Sprint Cup teams with semi trailer race car haulers and vending trailers. Among the teams Featherlite has supplied are those of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.

Featherlite has constantly expanded its Cresco, Iowa trailer manufacturing plant. At present, the plant contains 311,400 square feet of building space.

In 2006, Featherlite Trailers became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Universal Trailer Corporation.

Products

Featherlite manufactures all-aluminum trailers, using aluminum alloys such as 6061-T6. Outside of race trailers, their most well-known products are horse trailers and livestock trailers. However, the company offers a wide range of trailers for other pursuits. Among the other models are car trailers, motorcycle trailers, ATV trailers, snowmobile trailers and utility trailers.

Featherlite emphasizes the customizability of its trailers. Customers can design a trailer down to the frame if they wish, but even the stock trailer models offer several changeable options. To demonstrate the versatility of its trailers, Featherlite maintains a virtual horse trailer design system, the Configurator, on its web site. It also promotes a PerfectFit system, which claims to provide customers the trailer that is right for them with a series of seven questions.

The most popular Featherlite trailer is its horse trailer Model 8541, a slant-load horse trailer that can be customized to haul 2 to 6 horses.

Specialty trailers

Featherlite creates business-to-business specialty trailers for organizations ranging from corporations to sports teams to state and federal government. Among the types of trailers it has manufactured are:

  • Medical office trailers
  • Mobile command centers
  • Event marketing and display trailers
  • Race car haulers
  • Vending trailers
  • Kitchen trailers
  • Mobile office trailers
  • Hospitality trailers
  • Teaching/Educational trailers
  • Mobile interactive museums

Clients of Featherlite Specialty Trailers include Cessna, Indian Motorcycles, John Deere, the United States Coast Guard, the Dallas Cowboys, Major League Baseball, Harley-Davidson, Chevrolet, NASCAR, American Grand Am, Best Buy, Target and DeWalt.

Sponsorships

Featherlite promotes its trailers at over 1,200 trade shows. It is a sponsor of such organizations as American Quarter Horse Association[2], NASCAR[3], Appaloosa Horse Club[4] and the National Western Stock Show[5]. Featherlite has also partnered with Young Rider magazine to sponsor several art and writing contests for young equestrians.

Featherlite sponsors the following organizations and events:

Equine

  • American Quarter Horse Association
  • Clinton Anderson Wahl Walkabout Tour
  • USTRC (United States Team Roping Championships)
  • Appaloosa Horse Club
  • Iowa Equestrian Center

Auto/Racing

  • NASCAR
  • Indy Racing League
  • Grand American Road Racing
  • ARCA
  • Super Chevy Show
  • Barrett-Jackson

Livestock

  • National Western Stock Show, Rodeo & Horse Show

Achievements

  • Built first ever custom aluminum NASCAR race car transporter for Dale Earnhardt/Richard Childress Racing
  • Sponsor of NASCAR’s “Most Improved Driver” award
  • Official trailer of the American Quarter Horse Association
  • Best selling horse/livestock aluminum trailer manufacturer in the United States (SSI 2009)
  • Over 200 dealerships in the United States and Canada with additional dealers located in Europe and Australia

References

  1. ^ http://www.answers.com/topic/featherlite-inc
  2. ^ http://www.aqha.com/partners/index.html
  3. ^ http://www.nascar.com/guides/sponsors/
  4. ^ http://www.appaloosa.com/association/sponsors.htm
  5. ^ http://www.nationalwestern.com/nwss/sponsors/sponsors.php
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