Compass caravans to return

Remember Compass Caravans? A sub-brand of the well regarded Roadstar Caravans, it survived for about 16 years before the Melbourne manufacturer became a victim of the Global Financial Crisis in the late-2000s.

But five years on Roadstar’s new owner Hitec Engineering plans to bring back the Compass name, on a range of cheaper, entry-level models to sell alongside the latest range of Roadstar touring and off-road caravans.

Roadstar boss Ken Nizam (also son of Saturn Trailers/Hitec founder Allan Nizam), said Hitec has already made a “serious investment” in Roadstar Caravans since buying the business in 2009.

As a result of two years' research and development, the production process has been significantly upgraded with new precision-cut CNC machinery and new hi-tech materials including a unique sealant, aluminium composite panels and lightweight furniture ply sourced from Europe.

“There is nothing the same from the old Roadstar,” he said.

The current line-up of six ‘conventional’ touring, semi off-road and off-road models will soon be joined by Roadstar’s first slide-out model, while more affordable Compass caravans starting from around $40,000, and possibly pop-tops, should follow.

Roadstar is also working on an aluminium body frame, to give buyers another option to its traditional Meranti timber frames.

Roadstar has been using an exclusive elastic sealant called MS22, developed by Belgium company Novatio to seal all joins on its caravans, since mid-2013. Supplied with a 10 year warranty, it boasts superior dust and water resistant properties to traditional sealants and cures almost instantly, to speed up the production process

Nizam admitted that together with the special cleaner and sealer required, it added around $2000 to the cost of building each caravan, but was worth it considering there had been no customer complaints so far.

“It pushes up our costs but we’re still very competitive (price-wise) with what we’re doing,” he said.  “(The aim) is to build quality, to build vans that are not going to give me problems.

"It’s no good building cheap, nasty products that we’re going to get warranty issues, and are going to give us a bad name.”

He said the only issue was from a repairer who struggled with a van that had been in an accident.

“They couldn’t get the panels off, because of the sealant, that’s how much it sticks.  Whereas with the other (sealant), we tested it and after a week or two it just peels straight off. It doesn’t stick.”

Roadstar also uses Dibond 3mm aluminium composite panels from Germany for a classy, brushed metal exterior look, although because it weighs more than traditional aluminium sheeting it’s only available on compact models like the latest Little Rippa Adventurer (pictured).

Most manufacturing tasks at Roadstar's Coolaroo, Victoria factory are completed in-house, including chassis and furniture construction, with 40 staff building around four vans a week.

However, the company is currently seeking additional factory floorspace to double production capacity to eight vans a week. 

Its nationwide dealer network is also expanding, with recent additions including Melbourne’s Caravan Super Centre and Albany City Motors in Western Australia.

Not forgetting its past, Roadstar also plans to celebrate 25 years since the company first started with the release of ‘25th anniversary’ special edition models later this year.