Bonza Bailey debuts at Leisurefest
UK Bailey puts Aussie accent on new, roomier Pamplona caravan but stops short of naming it BruceThe first British Bailey caravan built exclusively for the Australian market made its debut at Melbourne’s Leisurefest just hours after arriving from the UK.
The 21ft internal-length Unicorn Series III Pamplona is the first to arrive of five new models being introduced by Bailey Leisure Pty Ltd, the new stand-alone joint venture British Australian company formed in June this year after Bailey broke away from the Caravans Australia group.
The 2015 Pamplona in its facelifted Series III evolution will only be sold in Australia.
Bailey thought of giving the model an iconic Australian name (such as Bruce!) rather than a Spanish name, but the cost of changing everything from the model’s decals to brochures made this unnecessarily costly, according to Bailey Leisure Managing Director, Adrian Van Geelen.
Apart from the facelift common to all Series II Unicorn models, a key feature of the new Pamplona is its increased ground clearance specifically for Australian conditions.
This has been achieved by further modifications to its European Al-Ko chassis, the fitting of slimline Australian-designed and built fresh water tanks, standardisation of 15-inch wheels and the fitting of a new recessed battery box.
The new Pamplona also has a full rear tunnel boot and a washing machine – both believed to be ‘firsts’ for a British-built caravan, but considered ‘essentials’ by many Australian caravan buyers.
Inside, the Pamplona has been redesigned to be roomier for Australian caravanners, who generally travel further and for longer periods than their European counterparts.
The fibreglass shower cubicle is 25 per cent larger, the front lounge seats are 10 per cent longer and there's 10 per cent more kitchen workspace than the outgoing Unicorn II model.
Reconfiguring the furniture has also increased the available floorspace by 15 per cent, while Australian-sourced Italian leather is for the first time being offered as a $2500 option to Bailey’s traditional fashion fabric interior trim.
Despite all this, the Pamplona remains an amazingly light luxury van for its 21ft internal length, with the show van tipping the scales at a Tare weight of just 1680kg, with a ball weight of 120kg. Its load carrying capacity of 400kg takes its ATM to an Australian large car/mid-size SUV-friendly 2080kg.
The 'show special' price is $67,990.
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