Pop-top Odyssey coming

Queensland’s Australian Off Road will respond to the mushrooming micro-hybrid pop-top market in June this year with a dramatic re-make of its Odyssey hard-floor camper.

The arrival in the past 12 months of a rash of stubby off-roaders such as Van Cruiser’s SUV, On the Move’s Crossfire, the new Lotus Off Grid, MDC’s XT-12 range and most recently, Rhinomax’s Scorpion, has changed the dynamics of the camper market, with many buyers now going directly from tents to pop-tops, by-passing traditional soft and hard floor camper trailers.

Apart from the business case of this new market, AOR founder and managing director Steve Budden said he was aware that with his current range starting with the $92,900 Quantum Super Camper, he was exposed to rivals capturing serial customers with an entry price product, gaining their loyalty and then moving them to larger, more expensive models as time went on.

Scheduled to be released at the Brisbane Caravan Show in June, the next-gen Odyssey will be dramatically different to its foldout canvas-topped predecessor that went out of series production in 2014.

The new AOR was originally going to be called the ‘Breeze’, but it will now wear the well-known Odyssey nameplate when production commences in July.

Measuring just 5000mm in overall length, the new Odyssey is actually shorter than its hard floor camper predecessor by 300mm, yet at 1950mm is about 100mm wider.

With its tare weight of less than 1500kg and a 30 degree rear exit angle, it's expected to be similarly capable off-road, but will offer instant set-up and greater comfort for its occupants.

There were plans to patent the new Odyssey’s innovative front-hinged queen bed, but they were abandoned when Rhinomax beat them to the punch with a similar idea on its prototype Scorpion displayed at both the Adelaide and Melbourne caravan shows.

The Scorpion has since gone back to the drawing board to have a number of detail changes made preparatory to series production commencing in April/May.

The key difference between the Scorpion and the new Odyssey lie in their lids, with the Odyssey’s full 560mm tall pop-top (as against the Scorpion’s front-hinged lid) allowing its bed to rise higher on a steeper angle, giving easier entry to its café dinette lounge and making its storage space underneath more accessible.

Plans are to have a three-burner stove, a 75-litre Vitrifrigo compressor fridge, a hot water service and sink inside the new Odyssey, with a cassette toilet sliding out of a hatch under the dinette seat.

Additionally, it will have the slide-out exterior kitchen previously fitted to the Series 3 Quantum model.

Budden says there's room to put 340 litres of water underneath the body, while solar power and diesel heating will also be on the standard equipment or option list.

Storage will include a full through body front locker, plus holders for twin jerry cans and twin gas bottles beside the vertically-mounted spare wheel at the front of the body.

Just which of these items will be included in its estimated $65,000 base price is yet to be finalised, but Budden is confident that he will have the best micro-hybrid on the market when the hard shelled Odyssey launches, relying on AOR’s reputation for high build quality and proven off-road ability to justify its premium pricing.