JB takes full control of New Age Caravans

It's official! Melbourne's JB Caravans has announced a full takeover of New Age Caravans, going from part- to full-owner of the 15-year-old caravan manufacturer, in a deal signed off around early-November.

Based in Epping, Victoria, New Age started off supplying frames for the local caravan manufacturing industry in the early 2000s, before becoming a full manufacturer of a range of touring caravans in 2009. The Walkinshaw Group then bought the business about five years ago, when New Age's range included camper trailers and annual production had reached a peak of around 2000 units.

The New Age deal is the latest in a number of RV-related investments made by the JB Group in recent times, which include breathing new life into Traveller Caravans and Queensland's Paradise Motor Homes after both went into liquidation.

The multiple acquisitions along with new model additions has seen the JB Group quickly grow to become one of the largest manufacturers of RVs in Australia, with an estimated combined annual production approaching 3000 units; a similar number to Snowy River Caravans, or less than half of Australia's biggest-selling RV builder, Jayco.

In a speech at the opening of the JB Melbourne factory in 2018, JB Caravans founder Alex Pi recalled how the company had “started from scratch” in 2010, building one caravan a month. Before then it was building caravans for other companies that were sold under names such as Bellarine, Liberty, Yarrawonga and Red Centre. 

With its expanding range of locally-built caravans, hybrids, pop-tops, toy haulers and motorhomes sold under brand names including JB, New Age, Traveller, Paradise and LPT, the JB Group now employs more than 450 people across three manufacturing sites (two in Victoria and one in Queensland). It also runs eight factory-owned dealerships and an RV parts' production and distribution business.

JB says its five RV brands have been responsible for more than 40,000 RV units produced in Australia over the past 20 years, with backing from a dealer network that currently extends to more than 30 outlets located across Australia and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, JB is about to further boost its retail offerings with the release of a new, limited run of upmarket compact campervans, based on the latest version of the Mercedes-Benz Marco Polo pop-top people-mover, while New Age is also about to launch its own version of the Iveco-based JB Touring motorhome.