Royal Flair heads to Mongolia
45-year old Melbourne manufacturer ships first caravan to Asian countryWhile most of the 20,000-odd caravans, camper trailers and motorhomes built in Australia annually are sold locally, there are a few that have headed offshore over the years like some the export-focused Bruder campers or the occasional Kimberley model to China.
But you wouldn't expect too many to end up in Mongolia, that remote and rugged landlocked country of around three million people located smack bang between Russia and China, and not that far from the oppressive regime of North Korea.
But time's are changing, with Queensland's Patriot recently setting up a shop for its extreme off-road campers, and now Melbourne's Royal Flair also discovering a small market niche for its off-road vans in the east and north-central Asian region.
While Royal Flair boss Billy Deralas doesn't give away too much in a video posted on social media, the tough-looking white and black Raptor appears to be a 13ft 6in tandem axle model, complete with rear club lounge'dinette (and overhead drop-down queen bed), front kitchen and separate shower/toilet.
Unless it's been removed for shipping, the export van appears to miss out on the Raptor's signature rear drop-down platform designed to carry a quad bike or couple of dirt bikes.
However, it does have the 10-point roll bar along with a Thule bicycle carrier fitted to the rear wall. It also appears to be on the heavy side, towed behind a big Ford F-250 pick-up connected by a 4500kg-rated Cruisemaster DO-45 coupling.
Royal Flair, which like Jayco is celebrating its 45th year of operation in 2020, released the Raptor compact off-road model in 2016, in body sizes from 11ft 5in to 17ft 6in and with prices stretching into six figure territory for the latest top-spec, toy hauler versions.
Like the Patriot campers and other hard-core RVs known to tackle the harsh Mongolian terrain, the Royal Flair Raptor is designed for serious off-road use with full off-road-ready underpinnings including trailing arm independent coil suspension and plenty of checker plate protection.
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