Roma chases Chinese buyers

Melbourne’s Roma the latest Aussie RV manufacturer to try to crack the potentially lucrative Chinese market

Far from being easy pickings, the surging Chinese caravan market appears to be a tougher nut to crack for Australian RV manufacturers.

That’s the conclusion reached by a group of Australian businessmen who recently displayed four Australian-built Roma caravans at the 2016 All in Carvavanning (AIC) show in China.

Staged over three days at the Beijing Exhibition Centre, the 5th AIC Show exhibition covered 30,000 square metres and attracted around 526 exhibitors – nearly 80 per cent more than in 2015 – including major European caravan manufacturers Adria and Hobby, Jayco Inc of the USA and heavy-hitting component manufacturers like Al-Ko.

Show visitors were also up by more than 50 per cent to 17,369 from China and abroad.

Reportedly sales were brisk, with more than 200 vehicles sold to consumers, according to preliminary statistics, while in excess of 1000 vehicles were said to be ordered by campsites and dealers. Exhibitors at accessories zones also reported steady traffic and sales.

Significantly, Messe Düsseldorf GmbH – organisers of the world’s leading international caravan industry event, Caravan Salon Düsseldorf – was also there, indicating the future potential of the AIC.

Australia was also there, with four caravans built by Melbourne’s Roma displayed by the Sydney-based MW Group.

MW is best known to most Australians for its MW Toolbox Centres that sells aluminium toolboxes and aluminium ute canopies, but its display in Being was an exploratory toe into the burgeoning Chinese caravan market, according to General Manager, Alan Huang.

Although MW has previously dabbled in the Australian RV market with the US-built Mini Caravan, it chose to partner with Roma Caravans in the Beijing venture because the Melbourne manufacturers’ high standing and long history in our caravan market.

The principal aim was to attract business from the operators of China’s rapidly expanding tourist park industry, where due to towing and licence restrictions, people tend to drive to caravan parks to experience the lifestyle by staying in onsite vans.

“The European manufacturers already have a five to six year head start on us in the Chinese market,” explained Huang, “and they have set many market preconceptions of what a caravan should be and look like.

“For example, most European caravans run electric, not gas appliances, so they think our idea of gas bottled on the A-frame is not only old-fashioned, but dangerous.

"And while we think it looks rugged to see the chassis and cross members on clear display underneath our caravans, they are used to seeing enclosed framework with smaller chassis members and much less metal displayed.

“So our caravans look relatively ‘unfinished’ and some people have concerns about how their chassis will last when exposed to the harsh winter weather in the north of the country.”

Huang said the other thing that hopeful Australian manufacturers need to be aware of is that while the Chinese market is growing rapidly, 90 per cent of the market is for motorhomes, not towed caravans at this stage.

“Some of the caravans we saw on display that were obviously joint ventures between local and European manufacturers were huge, but had only single axles, so they could not be towed legally on our roads, or perhaps even theirs,” he said.

“The prices of the local caravans are also very low and even the currently low Australian dollar makes it difficult for us to compete”.

Despite all this, Huang said there were still opportunities for Australian manufacturers to partner with Chinese companies for caravans to be sold in Australia, “but the investment relative to our relatively low sales volume is very high”.

“While it used to be cheap to manufacture in China, costs have risen considerably in recent years, so it is not the ‘field of dreams’ that many Australian thought it would be.”

As a case in point, he pointed to the Jayco Inc of the USA that has a considerable market share in China, but still gained it with American- products sold through its Chinese agents.

“We learned a lot by exhibiting in Beijing,” he said. “It was a very worthwhile exercise.”

Roma chases Chinese buyers

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