Complete Campsite back in business

Another Australian camper brand has risen from the ashes, with the Newcastle NSW-based Exodus brand of premium, fibreglass-bodied hybrid off-road campers recently going back on sale.

The Exodus 11, Exodus 14 and Exodus 16 hybrid campers marked their return to the premium camper market at the Gold Coast show in March, and were also displayed under the Complete Campsite banner at last week’s Sydney Supershow.

Complete Campsite, which took over the manufacturing of the Exodus hard-walled campers in 2010 and also built one of Australia's best off-road hard-floor campers, went into liquidation last year. The 19-year-old business blamed tough trading conditions in 2020 including the closure of trade shows for its downfall.

Complete Campsite has been revived as Exodus Off-Road Campers, with marine specialist David Bradburn as Managing Director.

Bradburn’s business Blue Water Cruising Yachts had a long-standing involvement with Complete Campsite, building the one-piece fibreglass bodies.

“I’ve always been in the background, developing the fibreglass components. It’s really much of the same people involved,” he told Caravancampingsales.

While the company began producing the Exodus range earlier in the year, Bradburn said it could only be done under the Exodus business name until Complete Campsite could be re-registered.

“I’ve been in protracted negotiations with the liquidator, which have been resolved in the last month. Now finalised, we can use the Complete Campsite name (again),” he said

However, the new business is focusing on the premium Exodus hybrid campers, and not (for now, at least) the hard floor and soft-floor campers that Complete Campsite was once known for.

“In the background, we’re really only doing the Exodus. We’re promoting Exodus, as a stand-alone product, as it’s the only product we have for now,” he said.

Bradburn, who with Ian Simpson began building the fibreglass-bodied hybrid Exodus in the early 2000s, believes that the hybrid camper will continue to be a strong product in the market under new direction.

“It’s been incredibly successful for over 10 years until COVID. We were building 10 campers a month,” he said.

However, Bradburn believes that the strength of the Exodus brand relies in not getting too big.

“We’re in a niche market, compared to the bigger builders, which we’re happy about. We’re very conscious of having a decent-size business, without getting too big.”

While the company’s infrastructure has had to be built up again, he said order numbers so far are promising.

“We’ve sold 20 campers now [and] we have about three to four months orders in advance.”

The Exodus campers are now built at a facility in Cardiff, NSW, while a dedicated service and repair centre continues at the previous Lisarow premises.

The 2021-model Exodus range includes the $94,990 Exodus 11, the $104,950 Exodus 14 and $111,950 Exodus 16.

All are pop-top, fibreglass shell hybrid campers loaded with features including a queen-size bed, slide-out kitchen, fridge-freezer, independent twin-shock coil-spring suspension, external ensuite shower pod, roll-out awning, large water storage capacity, LED lighting, solar panels and an inverter.

Tare weights range from 1700kg for the Exodus 11 to 1950kg for the Exodus 16. Standard payload is 800kg on the Exodus 11 and 550kg on the Exodus 16 (with payload upgrades optional).

Related:

Complete Campsite closes factory doors