Avida produces 10,000th motorhome

It’s taken Avida Motorhomes – formerly Winnebago Australia – almost 50 years to reach the manufacturing milestone of 10,000 motorhomes.

That’s around 200 motorhomes a year on average – not bad for a sector of the Australian RV industry that produced less than 1000 vehicles in 2012.

Forty-eight years after he built his first camper, an aluminium-sided, slide on unit for a 1964 EH Holden ute, in his parent's garage in Sydney, Avida boss and co-founder Bruce Binns recently handed the keys to the 10,000th Winnebago/Avida motorhome to Michael and Lucy Davis, from Brisbane at a ceremony held at Gold coast dealer Hinterland Motorhomes.

The four-berth, Esperance C7934SL is the couples’ first motorhome and also one of the first of the restyled Avida models available since late-February.

Based on an Iveco truck chassis, it features a rear bathroom, island double bed and slide-out dinette and retails for around $170,000.

Binns and his wife Ruth originally established the Freeway Motor Camper Company in 1965, as an adjunct to their building/joinery business in Hornsby NSW where they began manufacturing 'slide-in' campers on a build and sell basis.

In 1978 the first of the Australian Winnebago-branded motorhomes rolled off the production line, and in 2001 the company moved into a purpose built, 17,000 sq.m production facility at Emu Plains in western Sydney.

More recently, Binns has been embroiled in a legal battle with the American-based Winnebago, over the rights to the Winnebago name in Australia.

"We are hopeful that we will win the appeal,” he said. “We have had the Winnebago name for 35 years and it would be disappointing to lose it now."

The eight models in the Winnebago range have now been rebranded as Avida and are being progressively updated with fresh exterior styling, new interior decor and equipment upgrades.

"Number 10,000 was a long time coming, but it certainly has been an exciting and enjoyable journey," Binns said.