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NEWS
Masterpiece Caravans aims high
New kid on the Campbellfield block targets JB, Lotus and EliteBut one of the newest nameplates in Australia’s caravanning hub – Masterpiece Caravans – comes from experienced origins and has lofty ambitions, even though it only opened its doors a matter of months ago.
Founder Remon Raffaello is a well-known Campbellfield caravan identity, having previously worked for well-established nameplates JB Caravans, Elite, Regent and Supreme in various operational and manufacturing engineering roles.
Now the qualified civil engineer is building his own bespoke caravans for what appears to be an eager market in a roomy, but unbranded factory in Australia’s caravan manufacturing heartland with his sights on a piece of the luxury dirt-road and off-road pie currently being carved up by Elite, Lotus and JB.
Should they be worried? Maybe a little. Remon had seven caravans under construction when caravancampingsales visited his factory and says he has sold – not built – 144 full height caravans since opening the doors in January this year.
Current production is three vans a week, he says, and he’s aiming to lift this to four, which is about the limit in his current factory.
“When I get to four a week it will be a comfortable size for the market niche I am targeting,” he said. “I see people get greedy and try to cover the lower end of the market, but it’s very competitive and cut-throat there and they may get the volume, but go broke in the process.”
Remon currently produces three full height caravans under the Masterpiece brand – the Performance dirt-roader that comes standard with Cruisemaster CRS suspension and is built in sizes from 19-22ft and the beefier Optimum that features full Cruisemaster XT trailing arm off-road suspension (19ft 6in-22ft) and the ‘burger with the works’ Oasis, which can be supplied in lengths up to 23ft 6in.
The Oasis has been a big hit in ‘big is beautiful’ Western Australia, accounting for three of the 14 Masterpiece vans sold recently at an Open Day staged by his WA dealer, Abba Caravans of Rockingham.
The Performance is also sold on both sides of the Murray River by Masterpiece’s Victorian and NSW dealers, but under different names.
At Yarrawonga Caravans it’s a ‘Performance’, but at Albury Caravans it’s marketed as a ‘Red Centre’ to avoid direct market competition.
Masterpiece’s other dealer is Solar Express and RV Superstore in Caboolture, Queensland.
Remon says his point of difference with his main established rivals comes from his engineering background. While he buys his Road King chassis from Supreme, they are specific to Masterpiece and are made from 4mm steel.
He also uses 3mm ply on the roof of his vans underneath their aluminium cladding for additional strength and says he can stand 20 people there without denting the roof.
Inside he attaches the cupboards to the upper wall to withstand loadings of up to 200kg without movement, something he’s happy to demonstrate by swinging on them.
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Written byMichael Browning
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Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
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