Kimberley targets Chinese market

Premium off-road RV manufacturer Kimberley is banking on being the first Aussie manufacturer to crack the potentially lucrative Chinese RV market.

Speaking at the Sydney Caravan Supershow, Kimberley Group chief Bruce Loxton said Kimberley had already sold its first camper trailer in China after exhibiting at the 2015 Beijing Caravan Show and a popular off-road rally event in Mongolia.

“Our current goal is exporting to China,” Loxton said. “The camper trailer we sold there was $62,000, so we’re not at the bottom of the price range.”

He said Kimberley, which was joined in Beijing by other foreign brands including Germany’s Fendt and Jayco USA, was well placed to grab a slice of China’s growing domestic RV market which is currently focussed on top-end products.

“In the Chinese market there’s no bread and butter units, the only caravans being bought are at the premium end. We sell to early adopters and innovators” he said.

“If you go to the Beijjing RV show no-one there will buy any of the Chinese rubbish that you see around there… in fact (Chinese caravan manufacturers) don’t even exhibit. But we sold our first unit there and we’re now working with a partner to export to Australia from there.”

Kimberley has already exported a number of its locally-built, cutting-edge off-road campers and caravans to regions including the UK, USA, Middle East and Canada.

“We’re the only caravan manufacturer in Australia that regularly exports,” he said.

Kimberley, which employs around 100 people also claims to be the only Australian RV manufacturer to hold USA National Highway and Safety accreditation.

In a recent speech the Federal Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Robb said businesses like the Kimberley Group were now “in the race” following the signing of a China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

“(Bruce Loxton) has big plans to export his caravans into China as a result of the FTA,” Robb said.

“With the one child policy Bruce figures there’s a lot of grey nomads in China with time on their hands.

“He has already applied to double the size of his premises and hopes to add between 30 and 40 staff. Under CHAFTA the 10 per cent tariff on caravans will be eliminated. He’ll be in the race.”

As well as chasing new markets, the 20 year-old manufacturer is also hoping to boost its annual production of around 500 units by introducing a new, cut-price “soft road” caravan priced between $60,000-$80,000.

Loxton said it would be similar to the single-axle Kruiser (pictured) which starts at $98,000, but with a few less hi-tech features to reduce the cost.

“We have to keep the aerodynamic shape but we can change some of the other features in it, such as using coil springs instead of fancy air suspension and things like that,” he said.

“We want to get into the 'soft road' (caravan) market, it’s about 6000 units a year (in Australia)… (Soft road means) you can still take it everywhere but it’s at that lower price point.”

He said while Kimberley currently has around 80 per cent of the premium camper trailer market in Australia, it has only two per cent of the ‘soft road’ caravan market. 

“We’ve still got a huge amount of growth in (the Kruiser caravan). The Chinese market is potentially 10 times that of Australia’s so it’s massive.”