No waiting for new Australis caravans

Melbourne's northern suburbs can already lay claim to an estimated 100-plus caravan builders, but that hasn't stopped new brand Australis Caravans from kicking off production recently at a new factory in Somerton, Victoria.

Headed up by a small but experienced team including ex-Windsor and Atlantic sales and marketing executive Mark Chadwick, Australis Caravans has plans to produce a three-model range of full-height luxury caravans, aimed at families and couples as well as more adventurous types.

First off the production line this month is a 20ft tandem axle Coastline semi off-road family model, with a bigger 21ft 6in Coastline family van currently in production and due for completion in March.

Featuring an "ultra modern" design and fit-out, the first 20ft Australis Coastline van boasts a spacious family floorplan including east-west parents' bed, central kitchen, L-shaped dinette and three bunks and a separate shower and toilet at the back.

The 'on-trend' interior decor theme includes the latest timber-look benchtops and matte black handle-less cabinetry, with matching black tapware and sinks and blue LED mood lighting.

Designed for younger, more agile parents, the east-west queen bed layout on the 3500kg ATM van offers additional under-bed storage including an L-shaped tunnel boot that's big enough for a slide-out BBQ.

"By having the east-west bed, it means you can still get a full ensuite and decent size bunks at the rear, and an L-shape lounge and opposing kitchen, while keeping the (body) size to 20ft," Chadwick explained.

Australis also plans to offer a single axle 18ft and a tandem axle 22ft 6in mid-ensuite model in its family Coastline range, along with a number of Overland models with couple-friendly layouts and a High Country range designed for full off-road use.

The Australis vans are built with traditional Meranti timber frames and smooth aluminium composite exterior panels, with the 20ft Coastline using a Roadking galvanised chassis with AL-KO Enduro independent coil suspension, 12in electric drum brakes, 16in alloy wheels and all-terrain tyres.

For off-grid camping it also gets two 95 litre fresh and one 95 litre grey water tanks, and two 105Ah AGM batteries and a couple of 190W rooftop solar panels.

Australis is currently selling direct from its Melbourne factory, but the fledging manufacturer hopes to set up a dealer network in the future for nationwide sales and servicing.

Apart from the trendy design and decor, Chadwick said a major selling point of the Australis vans will be their competitive pricing, with the 20ft Coastline packing in plenty of upmarket features like an Ibis 4 air-conditioner, Webasto diesel heater, Thetford 182 litre three-way fridge, Euromaid 5kg front load washing machine, Furrion stereo, BMPro touchscreen display and AL-KO ESC, for its $74,990 driveaway price.

"Because we're new and trying to establish the brand, we've thrown in a lot of options as standard to give us an edge over some of our competitors," he said.

With order books at many caravan manufacturers now blowing out to 12 months or more as a result of pandemic lockdowns, Australis is also currently promising super-quick delivery times of around five to six weeks for impatient buyers.

"To be in a position to be able to build a good quality van with plenty of features and be able to supply pretty quickly, is a real selling point at the moment," he said.