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NEWS
Sales of big caravans rise
Strong demand for 20ft-plus vans continues, while larger motorhomes gain momentumMore than half of all RVs built in Australia are big caravans of at least six metres (19ft 8in) in body length, as buyers steer away from smaller, lighter on-road vans to those
That’s the clear take-out from the latest industry production figures supplied by the Caravan Industry Association of Australia.
According to the monthly stats taken to the end of October 2017, 53.2 per cent of all Australian-built RVs
were six metre-plus caravans. It’s been a similar story for the past three years, with super-sized vans really becoming popular in 2015 when their percentage of the overall market jumped from 36.3 per cent to 51.4 per cent.
The shift in buyer preferences away from smaller vans to much bigger ones is obvious from the early-2000s, with 6.0m-plus vans comprising just 22.4 per cent of the overall market back in 2009.
During the same eight-year period, demand for smaller (4.0-5.0m/13-16ft) caravans dropped significantly, from 25.3 per cent in 2009 to 10.9 percent in 2017.
Meanwhile, the
popularity of pop-tops appears to have waned, with 3821 built to October 2017 – down from 4167 for the same period in 2016.
The percentage of pop-tops compared to overall RV production currently sits at 20.3 per cent – down from 23.5 per cent in 2016.
According to the CIAA, production of large motorhomes (7.0m-plus) is currently at “record levels”, with 109 built in October, compared to 48 for the same month in 2016. At the same time smaller (sub-7.0m) motorhome production was down.
Production of
C-class motorhomes (those with a Luton Peak bed over the cabin), remains steady, with 597 built to the end of October -- a similar volume to 2016.
The CIAA reported no coach-style A-class motorhomes have been built locally so far this year; compared to three in 2016 and eight in 2015.
The peak body is predicting the final RV production figure for 2017 will fall just short of last year’s total of 21,841.
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Written byChris Fincham
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Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
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