Limousine Finder: Forest River Acquires Assets Of Battisti Customs

Friday, June 23, 2017

Forest River Acquires Assets Of Battisti Customs

<p>A Battisti Customs limo bus interior (photo courtesy of Forest River/Battisti)</p>

ELKHART, Ind. — Forest River, Inc., one of America’s leading manufacturers of recreational vehicles, pontoon boats, cargo trailers, and buses, this month acquired certain assets of Battisti Customs, Inc., a leading vehicle conversion company also in Elkhart. [Terms of the deal were not disclosed].

Battisti Customs produces luxury conversions on multiple platforms including Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, Ford Transit, and the Dodge ProMaster chassis. It also performs a variety of limo and specialty upfits for various bus manufacturers, including an exclusive agreement with Berkshire Coach. Its conversions
include mobile offices, mobile medical, executive shuttles, day cruiser RVs, and luxury shuttle buses.

Battisti Customs was formed in 2009 by Bill Battisti and Carl Hazzard who have extensive experience engineering and crafting interior vehicle concepts. The expertise Battisti Customs brings makes for many product possibilities for Forest River dealers and their customers. To keep up with its growing product line, Battisti Customs will be moving from its 30,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility to a new 60,000 sq. ft. facility in Elkhart later this month.

“Bill and Carl bring a vast amount of knowledge in the custom upfitting of vans and buses to our company,” Forest River’s David Wright said in a statement. “This knowledge will be extremely valuable to the Forest River dealer base as we expand our presence in these markets. The opportunities Battisti brings to our dealers and their customers are enormous.”

Bill Battisti, president of Battisti Customs said, “Carl and I looking forward to joining Forest River and continuing to grow the company we created. Battisti Customs has always provided the highest level of customer service and quality interior conversions. Through our sale to Forest River, we will have the opportunity to expand our line of diversified products. We are excited about the future opportunities for our business, customers, and employees.”

Information: battisticustoms.com and forestriverinc.com

Source: Forest River press release