Aussie RV production rolls on

Annual RV production in Australia in 2017 eclipsed the previous year’s total, with sales of large caravans leading the way, according to figures released by the Caravan Industry Association of Australia.

The big winners in 2017 were manufacturers of large 20ft-plus caravans, with their overall market share rising to 55.3 per cent (from 51.7 per cent in 2016), while pop-tops dropped from 23.5 per cent market share in 2016 to 20.1 per cent.

It’s been a similar story for the past three years, with super-sized vans surging from 2015 when their percentage of the overall market jumped from 36.3 per cent to 51.4 per cent.

The shift in buyer preferences away from smaller vans to much bigger ones became obvious from the early-2000s, with 6.0m-plus vans comprising just 22.4 per cent of the overall market back in 2009.

All up, 22,381 towable and motorized RVs were built in Australia in 2017 according to the figures provided; a 2.5 per cent increase on 2016 (21,841). It’s the seventh year in a row that local RV production has topped 20,000, despite increasing competition from imports.

A strong finish to the year saw monthly, year-on-year production of towable RVs for the month of December increase by six per cent. Fixed-roof caravan production was up 10 per cent for December, while sales of camper trailers and pop-tops remained flat.

Off the back of a growing motorhome rental and retail market, annual production of Australian-built campervans and motorhomes continued to rise, capturing 5.9 per cent of the overall market in 2017. All up, 1463 campervans and motorhomes were built last year, up from 1287 in 2016 and 1074 in 2015.