More Snowy River models coming

Three-year-old Chinese caravan brand, Snowy River, is setting up to become a major Australian RV player, with a recent move into a large new Melbourne factory and plans to roll out new camper trailers, hybrid campers and possibly motorhomes in the near future.

Two prototype imported camper trailers are currently sitting on the floor of the impressive new 14,251 square metre factory in Somerton, Victoria, with production versions expected to go on sale sometime in 2019.

Snowy River Dealer Liaison & Sales Service Officer, Nicole Jorgensen, told Caravancampingsales that pricing for the new forward-fold camper models is expected to start around $28,000. That would put the family-friendly tent campers in a similar mid-range price bracket to Bluewater Campers, which are also largely built in China.

“The idea is to offer (a similar spec) to a Snowy River caravan, so the basic features are all there… including brand name appliances like Dometic and Camec, that are sourced in Australia and covered by local warranties,” Jorgensen explained.

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Snowy River is also in the early stages of developing a range of hybrid campers, which are likely to have fixed walls and roof, 14-15 foot bodies and a range of layouts including bunk beds.

“The plan is to add more models (to the Snowy River range), including camper trailers and hybrids, and make it more rounded out as far as our offerings,” she said.

Like Adelaide-based caravan importer Goldstar RV, Snowy River builds and sells a range of motorhomes for sale in China, and is also considering offering a cut-price, locally-complied motorhome.

The Snowy River brand has experienced strong growth since launching in 2015, not long after its Chinese-Australian owner took over long-term Australian brand Regent caravans, which are assembled alongside the Snowy River vans at the new factory.

Jorgensen said production of the Snowy River caravans, which arrive in Australia about 70 per cent complete, has close to doubled since the start of this year – from four vans a week, to six to eight depending on demand.

She said the bigger Melbourne factory will also allow production of the more upmarket, Australian-built Regent caravans to increase, from a current rate of “roughly five a week”.

According to Jorgensen, buyers are now more willing to consider a cut-price Chinese caravan than in the past, due to a number of factors including improvements in build quality and favourable feedback from existing owners.

“The early days were very difficult for us (but) I think the stigma of built-in-China is starting to lessen a bit,” she explained. “The other advantage of Snowy River caravans is that few other manufacturers can offer a full fibreglass van at these sort of prices, and that’s a really big selling point for us.”