More ‘Oz' in future Baileys

There will be more Australian thinking in future Bailey caravans sold in Australia – and perhaps the best of British in future Aussie-made Regent models – following the recent visit to Australia of a high-level management team from Bailey of Bristol.

The company’s Managing Director Nick Howard – the ‘father’ of Bailey’s patented Alu-Tech interlocking five-part body construction – Bailey’s National Sales Manager Ian Rawlings and Product Development Manager Phillipa Brown-Jackson spent a week on Australia’s east coast in March, during which they held detailed discussions with Bailey importer Caravans Australia and visited CA and rival dealerships both upfront and incognito.

“It was an eye-opener for us,” Howard told caravancampingsales. ”It was our first visit to Australia and we will be leaving with a new respect for the local products, but also with a clear idea of how they could be improved by incorporating the latest overseas ideas, components and manufacturing concepts.”

Howard said he was amazed by the number of small custom builders in the Australian market, where our annual sales approaching 20,000 units are approximately double those of Bailey alone in the UK.

“There are five major manufacturers in the UK, but from what I have been told there are up to 100 firms building caravans, pop-tops and camper trailers in Australia, with around 80 per cent of them concentrated in Victoria,” he said. “I have no idea how all of them survive in a relatively small market!”

His view is that local makers quickly need to become more relevant and incorporate overseas ideas in order to survive.

“The best selling car in Australia is the Mazda 3, yet it has a braked towing capacity of just 900kg and the most popular light SUVs like the Subaru Forester are only rated to tow around 1500kg. This makes them unsuitable to tow the majority of locally-built pop-tops and caravans.

“Yet the local caravan industry is still building ‘dinosaurs’ that can only be towed by a diminishing number of big family cars and larger 4WDs.

“In the UK, we are working closely with car manufacturers to build caravans that the most popular vehicles can tow legally (in the UK a caravan cannot weigh more than its tow car, regardless of the tow car’s rating braked trailer tow rating).

“Weight reduction without loss of strength, along with improved aerodynamics are essential to meet the ever-tightening fuel consumption targets set by the European Union.”

He said one way to reduce weight was build monocoque caravans like the Bailey, where a 44mm thick floor is bolted to an Al-Ko chassis to form a single structural unit.

Another is to get rid of heavy steel bumpers and incorporate impact absorbing plastic body panels, like those on the rear of the latest Baileys, that can withstand an impact of up to 16km/h without major damage to the van’s structure.

He admitted being impressed with the timberless composite caravan floor recently announced by UK arch-rival Swift for its top-of-the-range caravans.

“It’s an interesting development that we are following very closely, but they have only built a handful of them to this stage,” he said. “But then we pioneered our Alu-Tech construction seven years ago and have just completed our 30,000th unit. We bounce ideas off each other and the competition is good for the industry.”

Howard said Bailey was also looking at ways to take the weight out of the suspension using more advanced materials and construction techniques and was working in a wind tunnel with the University of Bath to achieve even better aerodynamic efficiency.

“What many people don’t appreciate is that if you reduce the weight of a caravan and improve its aerodynamics, you will be able to travel further for the same cost, or upgrade to a larger, more luxurious caravan without increased travelling costs.

“However the hidden benefit is that you won’t have to upsize your day-to-day car for the other 48 or so weeks of the year when you’re not towing. So the flow-on long term fuel and cost saving is far greater.”

During their visit, the Bailey team also gained an appreciation of Australian road conditions and gained a respect for the design of typical local caravans.

“It’s clear why these sort of caravans are popular with people travelling in remote areas,” Howard said, “but the truth is those areas are shrinking and most Australian travellers now stay on the bitumen.

“Still, there are lessons we can learn for the caravans we supply to the Australian market and our National Sales Manager Ian Rawlings plans to return here on a regular basis for testing of future models sold here.”

Howard said motorhome manufacturers also needed to lift their game.

“The latest European chassis and cab construction are very advanced, but when we crash-tested a rival’s product at the UK’s Milbrook Proving Ground we found that the occupants were badly injured by many fittings, such as reading lights, that are perfectly acceptable in a caravan.”

In what is a pioneering move in Europe, Bailey is now building its motorhomes to allow up to four belted occupants to survive a full frontal crash at up to 50km/h, replicating the most common nose-to-tail freeway accident in the UK.