Australia's priciest motorhome nearing completion

One of the biggest and most sophisticated motorhome builds in Australian RV manufacturing history is progressing slowly, with Queensland's SLRV recently raising the two-storey electric roof platform on the multi-million dollar MAN 8x8 expedition vehicle it's building for a wealthy family of six.

Australian off-road motorhome manufacturers are renowned for building some of the most desirable motorized RVs, like the $720,000 Unimog beast from NSW’s EarthCruiser, but SLRV is setting the bar even higher, with the expedition vehicle specialist around half way through the six-month build of one of the world’s most self-sufficient and technologically advanced off-road motorhomes.

Based on a German-built, military-spec MAN 8x8 truck chassis and expected to be finished before the end of the year, SLRV said the monster motorhome will be “one of the biggest, most technically advanced expedition trucks to wander this planet”.

“This two storey beast will use some of the world’s latest innovations, to provide the owner with a fully equipped, self-sufficient, luxury mega machine,” the company boasted.

SLRV’s Warwick Boswerger told caravancampingsales that the well-heeled and discerning buyer wanted to accommodate his family including six children in complete comfort for months at a time, while accessing some of the more remote deserts and regions of Australia.

Boswerger said just about everything will be custom built on the mega motorhome to meet the design brief, from the actuators lifting the ‘second storey’, hard-wall roof section to the $35,000 marine-style ducted air-con system and cutting-edge Mastervolt power system utilizing 8km of wiring.

“(The owner) is pretty much some-one who wants a self-sufficient house on wheels,” he explained.

“The truck itself will be running 12V, 24V, 48V, 240V, and three phase… the power system has never been done like this before (on an RV), in order to power all the things the customer wants in it.”

“We’ll be using a new 48V alternator that comes off the truck, and it will be the first RV in the world to use this alternator to charge at 8kVa -- that’s equivalent to a big, big generator while it’s driving…

“It will also carry a 9kVa (petrol) generator, and a massive household style, solar set-up that will cover the roof, along with six 360Ah lithium batteries.”

When set up, a stairwell will provide access to the two levels within the 8.5m long fibreglass composite body, with the upstairs ‘kids retreat’ featuring six beds and a pop-up TV.

The lower level will incorporate a master bedroom and ensuite, along with a kitchen galley and lounge/dinette, big enough to fit the family of eight. A king bed will also drop down over the lounge to sleep another two guests.

“The customer wants it like a house (so) just about everything inside to suit the family is doubled up, including double convection oven, double cooktops, double fridges,” he said.

At around 10m long and over 4m high when travelling, Boswerger said the motorhome will weigh around 20 tonnes when finished – well shy of the MAN's 42 tonne GVM.

The motorhome is powered by a 353kW/2300Nm 12.5 litre, six-cylinder turbo-diesel engine running through a 12-speed transmission, and will also be fitted with a spare wheel lifter at the rear, that doubles as a platform to carry dirt bikes or other motorised toys

While similar-style motorhomes have been built in Europe, the SLRV Commander is believed to be the first down under based on MAN’s most extreme off-road truck platform, which is more commonly used for mining or military applications.

“(The customer) has done his research and checked out what’s available overseas, but obviously for Australians a local build is important, to be close by and able to pop into the factory and follow the build progress,” he said.

Boswerger said the final price tag will be “somewhere between one and two million dollars…  You’re looking at just over half a million dollars for the base vehicle alone.”