AFTER 5 YEARS
of dealer PRIMO sales in Minnesota,
Phoenix-based Primo Manufacturing, born of necessity, is now
going nationwide.
NATDA: Tell me a little bit about Primo Manufacturing.
HALLBLADE: My father owns a large dealership in Minneapolis
called Absolute Trailer Sales. I was working with him back in 2010.
We had frustrations getting the products that customers asked
for and wanted, but manufacturers wouldn’t provide. So, we took
steps towards making our own product line in 2012. We started
with just a few different models, testing and changing them over
the three years to improve them based on customer feedback.
We sold every Primo trailer direct to customers so we could
get direct feedback. After three years of creating a structurally
28
stronger trailer and a product our customers liked, we started
distributing nationwide. We simply outgrew our facility in
Minnesota and knew we could grow bigger and better out of
Phoenix, Arizona to reach nationwide dealers.
NATDA: Tell me a little bit about the models themselves. What
specifically about your trailers are the features that you were
missing from other manufacturers?
HALLBLADE: Most American companies do their cross-
member framing from side to side. We’ve met with structural
engineers and they all said the same thing. Running cross-members
from front to back is significantly stronger, structurally. It gives the
trailer a little bit more flex without breaking, which is important in
aluminum. On some of our bigger, heavy-duty models, we do both
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