Apollo ups Coromal warranty

Apollo has added the first family floorplan to its new range of Coromal caravans, at the same time as introducing an industry-leading warranty for all its Brisbane-built Coromal  vans.

Unveiled at the official launch of the latest Apollo-built Coromal caravans at Queensland’s Rivershore Resort last week, the 6.96m/23ft (body length) Element Evolution RTV 696 has a retail price of $80,325 but is loaded with features including walk-around queen bed, large kitchen and café dinette, triple bunks, separate shower and toilet, washing machine and optional semi off-road RTV pack.

Boasting ‘Proudly built by Apollo’ decals as fitted to all 2019-built Coromal vans, the 2430kg (Tare weight) Element Evolution RTV 696 is the latest model to roll off the new dedicated Coromal production line at Apollo’s 20,000 sq.m Brisbane mega-factory.

Like other Pioneer and Element Evolution rough-road vans displayed at the launch, the new luxury family van employs the latest Fleetwood-designed lightweight 550-grade steel welded and bolted chassis, Ezy-Tow suspension, automotive side window glass and one-piece composite walls, roof and floor.

As a display of confidence in how the new Brisbane-built models are manufactured, and following some concerns around the build quality of earlier versions, Apollo has this month introduced an extended three-to-five year warranty across its Brisbane-built Coromal range.

The upgraded warranty includes a five year structural guarantee on all parts of walls, windows, floor and roof, along with a three year ‘body and interior guarantee’ that covers cabinets, furniture, framing and wet area fittings.

The Apollo 5-3-3 warranty is backed by 1600 service providers located around Australia, and comes after various production enhancements were made to the Coromal vans at the new factory, including changes to plumbing, wiring and the way the body panels are sealed.

“There’s a right way and a wrong way to apply the sealant to ensure you get a good structural integrity of your bond but also prohibit water ingress,” explained Apollo’s Executive General Manager - Manufacturing & Product, Paul Truman. ”We have written work instructions (at the Apollo factory) describing how to do that, as well as checks and controls around that.”

Apollo has also addressed some minor compliance issues, which has resulted in the latest Brisbane-built versions recently achieving RVMAP accreditation.

The latest Coromal caravans are built alongside Winnebago vans and motorhomes, as well as rental campervans and motorhomes that Apollo has been producing since 2005.

“Apollo’s construction methods have been tried and tested over thousands of millions of kilometres on our rental fleet and under the Winnebago name,” Apollo CEO Luke Trouchet said.

“We have committed extensive research and development in integrating the previous Coromal manufacturing process into Apollo’s existing construction method and materials.”

Apollo is banking on the roll-out of Coromal caravans significantly boosting its annual RV production, which already increased by 40 per cent in 2018 to 1000 RVs after the move to the new factory. The Brisbane production facility has the capacity to build up to 4000 RVs a year.

Apollo has so far re-introduced five floor plans across the Coromal Pioneer and Element ranges, with a new composite body, entry-level Appeal model that's expected to start from under $50,000, and a new range-topping Princeton slider that should push into six figures, expected to arrive later this year.

Apollo also has plans to re-introduce the Windsor badge, which it also acquired as part of the Fleetwood deal, although gave no hints as to whether previous Windsor-branded camper trailers, hybrids and toy haulers, would make a comeback.

Trouchet also said that a substantial number of the almost identical-looking, Fleetwood-built Coromal caravans purchased by Apollo remain unsold after arriving at Apollo dealerships around March.

“We purchased 180 units from Fleetwood at a substantial discount to the normal wholesale price, and we’ve sold around one third of them already, and they’re being distributed around our network of dealers and are moving quite well at this stage,” he said.