Euro dealer spreads its wings

It’s been slim pickings of late if you wanted to buy an imported caravan from Melbourne & European RVs.

The Seaford, Victoria dealer has offered a number of European caravans over the years, starting off with Germany’s Hymer and Geist before focussing on Slovenian-built Adria caravans.

However, a short supply of Australian-spec Adria caravans in recent years which culminated in a change of Australian importer a few months ago, left many caravan buyers who visited the dealership looking for a lightweight alternative to local offerings wanting.

But that changed recently when Melbourne & European RVs became the Victorian agent for British-built Elddis caravans, which officially went on sale Down Under in early-2013.

Currently displayed at the dealership in an outside area normally reserved for the Adria range are eight Elddis caravans, covering the five-model, 14 variant Elddis Australia range from a single axle, two-berth Xplore 402 (1500kg ATM, $47,990 towaway) to a tandem axle, four-berth Avenger Supercycle (2090kg ATM, $72,690 towaway).

According to Melbourne & European RVs dealer principal, Scott Webster, the Elddis vans are a step above Adria in price as well as features and suitability for Australian conditions.

“It’s the first time we’ve had a European product that’s actually been Australianised, in the sense that it’s 110mm higher than a lot of the other European vans,” he said. “It’s actually got higher ground clearance than a lot of the Aussie vans.”

Other Elddis advantages include a bigger, 100 litre underfloor water tank, and a 10 year water ingress warranty thanks to its innovative Solid Construction.

“Where Adria is like the Ford/Holden of the European caravan market, (Elddis) is more the Mercedes/BMW end of it,” he said.

“The only issue we have with the Elddis now is because they’ve got such a high ground clearance, we’re having to increase the height of the towball (on buyers' tow vehicles) in order to marry up with the caravan.”

Melbourne & European RVs also recently added motorhomes to its mix for the first time in the form of the Fiat Ducato-based Auto-Trail range, also built in the UK and offering something a bit different to locally-built models.

Meanwhile, Webster expects the first of the Apollo-backed Adria caravans to arrive next month, beginning with the single axle, four-berth Altea 432 and 512 models. These will be followed later in the year by new models including a double bunk family van with a separate shower and toilet – a first for an Australian-spec Adria van.

However, he expects at least 70 per cent of all vans sold at Melbourne & European RVs to continue to be Australian-built, primarily New Age Caravans as one of three Victorian dealers for the Epping, Victoria-based manufacturer.

According to Webster, who previously sold Melbourne-built Windsor caravans, New Age is one of the fastest growing manufacturers in the country, and currently builds more caravans than Jayco.

“New Age is now the second biggest (Australian RV) manufacturer outright, and the second biggest employer in the caravan industry,” he said.

“I’m lucky. I genuinely believe I’ve got the best of the Australian product, and obviously Elddis which has won many European (caravan) awards…”