After both working at Astral, Boasman and Holmes worked together at Cosalt in Grimsby, and together founded the caravan division known as Humber Caravan Co. alongside Len Funnell.[2] This caravan division was then renamed as Abbey Caravan Company. Boasman left in 1971 to begin working at Mustang.[3]
In 1982, Boasman created the first coach-built Auto-Trail motorhome, the Auto-Trail Cheyenne, with the Peugeot 504 chassis.[4]
The early 1990s found the Mohawk and Cheyenne models growing in popularity. The Cheyenne range was originally a budget build for the hire fleets, but it became popular with private buyers, so Auto-Trail developed the Rico luxury pack and Sport range.[5]
Auto-Trail was bought out by A.B.I Caravans although Auto-Trail remained at its Grimsby factory. ABI went out of business in 1998 and Auto-Trail was sold to the Italian Ci Group,[1] owned by the larger Trigano Group in 1999.
In 2015, Auto-Trail began an expansion for their Grimsby site. The new production lines were designed to be more efficient and roughly doubled production numbers.
Auto-Trail added the Tribute range into the main Auto-Trail line-up in 2017 after manufacturing moved from Italy to the company's main premises in Grimsby.[6]
