Bailey ceases Australian caravan production

Australian-model Bailey caravans will no longer be built down under, after the UK caravan brand announced it will be shutting down its Australian manufacturing business after four years.

In an announcement on social media, Bailey UK said: “Following a review of the Bailey operations within Australia, Bailey of Bristol has decided to cease manufacturing of Bailey caravans within Australia ending August 2019.

“Bailey as a brand is not leaving Australia and is merely ceasing its manufacturing operations. Its current customer base will still be supported locally and by parent company Bailey of Bristol (UK based).”

Bailey said there will be an “orderly wind-down” of the Campbellfield, Victoria manufacturing facility “with as many customer orders to be honoured as possible”.

Bailey officially started selling lightweight fibreglass caravans in Australia in 2011, offering a number of ‘Australianised’ versions of UK models before offering a range of Australian-built composite caravans from 2015.

To try and revive a general slowdown of sales of British/European caravans down under, it went so far as recently introducing a hybrid UK-Australian model riding on a tough locally-made galvanized chassis, and recently updated its full composite Australian-built Rangefinder range.

Bailey UK said that “appropriate arrangements” will be put in place to “honour existing warranty, support and service commitments for caravans sold in the Australian and New Zealand market”.

“Bailey has ambitions to ensure that the Bailey brand continues in Australia and New Zealand. In this regard, we are presently exploring various options under which Bailey continues to operate in the Australian and New Zealand markets and will provide relevant updates to the market when appropriate," the British company said in the statement.

Bailey is the latest Euro-style composite caravan brand to hit troubled times, with Victoria-based Jurgens struggling to pay the bills and Avan winding up its German-Australian Knaus caravan alliance.

The local importer of UK-built Swift RVs has also switching its focus from lightweight imported touring vans to more appealing rough road Trail models.