Lotus heads on road

In recent years Melbourne’s Lotus Caravans has not strayed too far from the dirt with its range of luxury Freelander and Trooper rough- and off-road models, and more recently the pint-sized Off Grid ensuite van.

Led by Young Achiever award winner, George Josevski, Lotus was a pioneer of the black checkerplate/tough alloy wheel exterior look now adopted by most Aussie manufacturers, not to mention a forerunner in the glossy, apartment-style interior presentation now demanded by most local caravan buyers.

Now the Campbellfield, Victoria-based company, which builds around 300 vans annually, has ventured back onto the blacktop with a new, on-road Tarmac model released at this year’s Victorian Caravan, Camping & Touring Supershow.

While similar in style and construction to Lotus’ other models, the new Tarmac differs with new lightweight ply ‘flat pack’ furniture, in lieu of the more traditional ‘stick’ furniture found in Lotus’ bush bashing models.

Instead of an independent, off-road coil and shock set-up, the Tarmac rides on lighter duty Dexter Torflex independent rubber torsion suspension, with single or tandem axles depending on body size, which ranges from 17ft 6in to 21ft.

However, Lotus hasn’t gone completely soft with its pitch for buyers who prefer caravan parks more than national parks.

There are still plenty of trademark Lotus touches including metres of black checkerplate over the smooth, composite walls (available in a variety of colours), tough-looking 16in alloy wheels wrapped in chunky, all-terrain rubber and unique, laser cut grab handles.

The slick interior boasts all the mod cons including full rear ensuite and coil-sprung queen bed, air-conditioner, washing machine, Thetford oven, Italian leather lounge and Fusion stereo (check the Lotus website for the full list of all 62 standard inclusions).

On display at the Melbourne Supershow was the single axle, 17ft 6in Tarmac with 150kg ball weight, 2085kg Tare, 2485kg ATM and $73,750 driveaway price.

There was also a similar black/grey coloured but bigger 21ft Tarmac van with 115kg ball weight, 2500kg Tare, 2900kg ATM and $79,250 driveaway pricetag.