Chinese-built Roma caravans arrive

One of the last bastions of the all-Australian caravan has been broken, with Melbourne’s Roma – which famously dates its local origins back to 1928 – now building two of its models in China.

The company’s new Avoka 22ft family van and the 2018 version of its tough Razorback off-roader, are now both fully assembled in China, before being shipped to Australia for final sign-off and compliance with local regulations.

A smaller 20ft 6in Chinese-built Avoka family van is also in Roma’s 2018 range, however the company’s traditional custom-built Elegance, Sov’reign, Pinto and Karisma caravans are still being built in Melbourne for the time being.

Roma’s Brendan Palmarini, whose late grandfather Vittorio Palmarini took over building Roma caravans in Melbourne in the early 1950s, said the Campbellfield, Victoria-based company was simply moving with the times, as it was with its parallel offering of quirky European and Canadian micro-caravans.

Chinese build quality improving

Palmarini said Roma’s move to partial Chinese construction on the two models followed major gains in quality achieved by Chinese manufacturers in recent years, which has made their latest product largely indiscernible from those locally built.

“Virtually all the ancillary components fitted to Australian caravans and now made in China anyway, so the rest is all about quality control of the finished product,” he said. “We are not about to squander our good and long-standing reputation on an inferior product.”

The benefit for local customers is of course price. Built on a 150mm x 50mm galvanised chassis and a similar-sized A-frame, the Avoka is right on the money for a 22ft family van, with its 38mm full-composite walls, floor and roof manufactured in Italy, but assembled in China.

A tool box with a generator slide, a 150W roof-mounted solar panel, leather upholstery, a 218L Dometic compressor refrigerator and Sway Master stability control, are included in its RRP of $66,750.

Better value but heavier

This puts it wheel-to-wheel with the $66,500 price of the latest locally-built and similarly-sized Bailey Rangefinder Asgard family bunk van, but the Roma includes more standard equipment for the money.

The downside is that it's also more than 500kg heavier at its Tare weight of 2500kg, restricting its tow vehicle options. This remains a technology area in which the Chinese have yet to match their British and European-based rivals.

The 20ft Roma Razorback with similar 6-inch underpinnings and AL-KO Enduro Outback suspension, is even heavier at a Tare of 2800kg, but employs similar fibreglass composite construction inside and out.

The imported caravan also gets 300W of rooftop solar, a toolbox with gen-slide, external brush bars, a stone guard, standard sway control and 16-inch wheels with off-road tyres, while inside there’s standard leather upholstery, the same big Dometic compressor fridge and a washing machine.