Midwest Automotive Designs Patriot Class B RVs

Alliance RV owns Midwest Automotive Designs. Alliance, a towable RV manufacturer based in Elkhart, Indiana, acquired Midwest in February 2026, and the purchase marked its first move into motorized RVs. Before that, Midwest spent roughly nine years inside REV Group, which bought the company in 2017 and ran it as part of REV Recreation Group. The sale came shortly after REV Group merged with Terex Corporation, and Terex divested Midwest rather than keep it. Midwest itself dates to 2000 and has always built in Elkhart. The plant and the workforce stayed in place through the change, so a Patriot bought today comes out of the same operation under new corporate ownership. If you are shopping used and have questions about warranty support across that change, ask MHSRV to confirm coverage on the specific van.

Midwest Automotive Designs builds the Patriot in Elkhart, Indiana. Midwest is an upfitter, which means it does not build the vehicle itself. Mercedes-Benz builds and warranties the Sprinter van, and Midwest buys that chassis and converts it, installing the cabinetry, the wet bath, the galley, and the electrical systems inside the original van shell. That split matters when something goes wrong. Chassis and drivetrain problems go to a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter dealer under the factory vehicle and drivetrain warranties, while the conversion itself falls under Midwest's own limited warranty, with appliances carrying their own shorter terms. Midwest has been converting Sprinters since 2003 and builds in low volume compared with the large RV manufacturers. Your salesperson can walk you through which warranty covers what before you buy.

There is no single best, because camper vans split into camps that barely compete with each other. Off-road vans chase trail capability, and value-focused Class Bs compete on price. The Patriot sits in the luxury Sprinter camp, and that is where it makes its strongest case. Midwest was converting Sprinters before most of the current field existed, and it put the first lithium system that eliminated propane into a Sprinter conversion back in 2016, which became the Freedom 1080 package the Patriot still offers. Hand-crafted hydro-graphed wood cabinetry, a wet bath, and an induction galley are the other things buyers point to. What the Patriot does not do is go off pavement like a purpose-built 4x4 van or come in cheap like an entry-level Class B. If your priority is a finished luxury interior and serious off-grid electrical capability on a Mercedes chassis, the Patriot is one of the strongest picks in the American market. MHSRV stocks it alongside the vans you would cross-shop it against, which is the only real way to settle the question.

They are the same van underneath, so the real difference is the interior look. Both ride the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis with the same drivetrain options, the same floorplan structure, the same rooftop air conditioning, macerator pump, and standard appliance package. The Patriot uses Midwest's hydro-graphed wood cabinetry throughout with matching front accent panels, which is the original Midwest aesthetic and the reason the model has a following. The Heritage uses laminated European curved upper cabinets with ambient halo lighting and roll-up screen doors, a more contemporary treatment. Nothing about the choice changes how the van drives, what it weighs, or what it can tow. Pick the Patriot for the traditional wood-grain interior, and pick the Heritage for the modern European look. Walk through both before deciding, since this is the kind of difference that photographs poorly and reads clearly in person. If you want the same Sprinter platform without the camper build, Midwest also makes the Patriot Cruiser, a day-cruiser version aimed at travel rather than camping.

It is Midwest's optional all-electric power upgrade, and it is the biggest single decision on a Patriot build. The package pulls out the propane generator, the onboard propane system, and the standard battery bank. In their place you get 1,080 amp-hours of lithium, a 3,000-watt inverter and charger, and more rooftop solar. It also adds a high-efficiency rooftop air conditioner, a diesel furnace and diesel water heater, and a high-output secondary alternator under the hood. Propane leaves the van entirely, so there is no tank to refill and no combustion appliance inside. In exchange you can run air conditioning off the batteries, recharge hard while driving, and camp without hookups for meaningfully longer. The tradeoffs are cost and weight, since this is the most expensive option on the van and lithium at that capacity is not light. Ask your salesperson to compare a Freedom 1080 van against a standard build side by side, because the difference in how you use the van is bigger than the spec sheet suggests.