DUSSELDORF CARAVAN SHOW: Say G’day to Germany

You don't have to wander too long among the 11 giant undercover halls at the Dusseldorf Trade Fair facility during its annual caravan show to hear a G'day among all the Guten Morgens…

While most of the 180,000-odd visitors at this year's nine-day show are from continental Europe or from across the English Channel, an increasing number of Australians, particularly manufacturers, are making the 22 hour plane trip to Dusseldorf in August to talk to suppliers, forge new contacts or simply look for inspiration among the razzle and dazzle of this cutting-edge European show.

Ken Nizam from Roadstar Caravans was on a fact-finding mission, talking to potential new suppliers like Al-Ko about chassis opportunities and France's Euromax about printed panels for a new caravan range. While the boss of NSW's Millard Caravans was caught enjoying a pilsener on the Dometic stand on his fourth trip to Dusseldorf.

Also doing the rounds was Jayco's Gerry Ryan (we spoke to Italy's Tecnoform, a supplier of upmarket furniture components to Jayco, just hours before Ryan met them for dinner) and newly appointed Caravan Industry of Australia CEO Stuart Lamont.?

But most dedicated were the two lone companies representing Australia among the 580 exhibitors from 21 countries at the show.

Nestled at the back of Hall 15 among all the accessories and tourism stands was Victorian-based Transcool, which was exhibiting at Dusseldorf for the first time. ?

Ex-truckie Peter Donegan has been manufacturing his Transcool 12V portable evaporative cooler at a tiny Kyneton, Victoria factory for the past four years, and is now looking at offshore opportunities including a slice of the lucrative European market.

Jon from Transcool said being at Dusseldorf would allow the company to gauge public reaction to the product, before taking the next step of appointing European distributors for Transcool, which is already available online to international buyers.

Transcool's only direct competitor is a similar American product, and at the stand the low-energy cooler was selling for 230 Euros (about $320). After a busy first week-end they'd already off-loaded quite a few of the 100 or so they'd brought over from Australia.?

Meanwhile, over in Hall 13 among the big accessories and components players including Al-Ko and Dometic was the small stand of Dream Lighting.

Based in Slacks Creek, Queensland but with a production facility in China, Dream Lighting under director Christina Liu supplies LED lighting solutions to many of Australia's leading RV manufacturers.

“We have around 40 per cent of the market (in Australia), and (our clients) include four or five of the top 10 manufacturers,” Liu said.

Unlike Transcool's retail approach, Dream Lighting only deals directly with wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers. Liu is a regular visitor to Dusseldorf along with other major international shows in the hope of signing a deal with one of the larger European or American manufacturers.