Big plans for reborn Kimberley Kampers

Once-troubled Kimberley Kampers is now officially back in business, with a new dealer model giving customers renewed confidence.

The former gold-standard off-road icon emphasized its return from the manufacturing  wilderness with a good size display of new and used campers and caravans at the recent Queensland Caravan Show in Brisbane, highlighting its 25 year history.

New joint owners, former south-east Queensland dealer, James Cockburn and former General Manager, Brett McLaren have got the Balina factory humming again, with 21 of the current 22-strong workforce being former employees, although Cockburn says it will be a while before the business recovers to its former 70-strong employee numbers.

“We’re hastening cautiously,” he said. “There are 7000 loyal Kimberley owners out there and we don’t want to disappoint them with another false start.”

One of the keys to Kimberley’s future lies in the novel co-operative dealer plan hatched by Cockburn and McLaren.

Operating under the new business name of Australian RV Consolidated Services, the agreement requires participating former multi-franchise Kimberley sales and service outlets to agree to be exclusively Kimberley, Travelander and Back Trax hard-shell rooftop tent dealers, by entering into a shared sales and customer relationship management platform.

This will see each dealer responsible for local sales and marketing, including a presence at regional shows, relieving pressure on the Kimberley factory and broadening the presence of its campers and caravans.

Cockburn said dealers in Cairns, Townsville, south-east Queensland, Newcastle, South Sydney and Melbourne were expected to come on board over the next six months, with others expected to open in Adelaide and Western Australia.

Under this agreement, the Kimberley factory will only interact with customers via its dealers, with Cockburn relinquishing his former 12-year role of running Kimberley’s southeast Queensland dealership – SEQ.

McLaren said there was excellent spirit at the factory, where production of Kamper trailers, Karavans, and single-axle ‘E’ and tandem axle ‘S’ Kruisers is currently ramping up to its expected level of 6-8 per month.

“We have a very enthusiastic ownership base,” he said “and they want us to succeed.

“James and I attended the annual gathering of Kimberley owners in Victoria’s Grampians on the week prior to Easter, where 97 campers and caravans and 200 owners were present.

“We addressed everyone and told them frankly what we were planning to do to build the business up again.

“We got enormous support and this has given us the confidence to go forward.”