MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee engineer left his job 4.5 years ago to pursue his dream of building custom camper vans. Brian Dondlinger and his wife Heidi created Orion Motors. In a short time, the brand is making a name for itself, selling 60 camper vans each for $160,000.
Brian Dondlinger's Milwaukee warehouse is filled with tools that allow him to live out his passion every day.
"It's more like a chance to play, right? So I get to come in here, I get to design stuff, I get to build stuff," Dondlinger said.
Watch the story to see what the camper vans look like...
As CEO and co-founder of Orion Motors, Dondlinger creates custom camper vans that help others fulfill their dreams of adventure.
"(I) come in on a daily basis and create something new and really help fulfill someone's dream," Dondlinger said.
The journey began when Dondlinger and his wife, both engineers, couldn't find a camper van that met their needs.
"We looked around, we couldn't really find anything that we liked, so we thought, hey, a couple of engineers — let's design our own. So we built our first camper van," Dondlinger said.
After receiving positive feedback from friends and family, the couple launched their company just as the van life movement was gaining popularity.
"So we thought, how can we build something that does all the camping things that we love while also being useful for other things every day?" Dondlinger said.
The spacious vans offer plenty of headroom — even for someone like myself who stands 6'2" — and can be fully customized to meet specific customer needs.
"We've had customers that are really into dog shows, so we accommodate dog crates, or they're really into motorcycle racing, so we've got motorcycle wheel chocks, or kayaking," Dondlinger said.
Some of the marquee features are the beds that can be lowered and raised from the roof to allow for more space in the van.
Each camper takes three months to build and costs $160,000. However, a newer, more affordable model is about to be released. On June 14th, Orion Motors will unveil its new Core camper, which will cost about $70,000 and take less time to build. The company is also hosting an open house on June 14 from 3pm to 6pm at its headquarters 6047 N Flint Rd, Milwaukee.
For Dondlinger, the business allows him to pursue his passion while helping others achieve their travel dreams — one custom van at a time.
This story was reported on-air by James Groh and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
