Snowy River heads off-road

Four-year old Australian-Chinese caravan brand Snowy River has unveiled its first off-road caravans at this year’s NSW Caravan, Camping and Holiday Supershow.

The Snowy River SRX-13 is a compact 13ft 6in full height van with east-west double bed, café dinette, kitchen and combination shower/toilet, while the larger 19ft 6in SRX-19 model delivers a spacious couples’ layout including island queen bed, L-shaped dinette, kitchen and full width ensuite with separate shower and toilet.

Both new rough-road models are produced with similar fibreglass body and interior furniture construction as the Snowy River on-road vans. However, they feature a number of off-road-themed extras including red painted side scrub bars and higher checker plate protection along the sides, along with Tuff Ride independent trailing arm coil suspension, black 16in wheels with off-road tyres and a Cruisemaster D035 hitch.

Both models have an extended drawbar with stone guard and front toolbox for holding the gas bottles, along with a three or four arm rear bar supporting the spare wheel and jerry can holders.

The single axle 13ft 6in model priced at $54,990 tow-away had a Tare weight of 1968kg and 2500kg ATM, while the 19ft 6in tandem axle model priced at $61,990 tow-away had a Tare of 2497kg and 3500kg ATM.

The smaller van was equipped with a i100Ah battery and 120W solar panel, reverse camera, a stereo with inside/outside speakers and a Winegard Tv antenna, while the 19ft 6in model added a few luxury items like a pillowtop innerspring mattress and 2.5kg washing machine.

Snowy River Dealer Liaison & Sales Service Officer, Nicole Jorgensen, said that the X13 and X19 vans on display in Sydney were prototypes, with production versions expected to be available soon.

Also displayed in Sydney show were two new additions to Snowy River's touring range: an A23 prototype featuring full fibreglass front and rear panels and rear club lounge/mid bathroom layout, and a new SR20 van which has a similar layout to the S19 model but with larger bedroom and kitchen areas and more interior storage.

Jorgensen said development of the new Snowy River camper trailers and hard-wall hybrid campers shown to caravancampingsales last year had been put on hold to help fast-track the release of the new off-road vans at the Supershow.

“We did take the (camper trailer) prototype to a couple shows to see market feedback, so we can make the needed adjustments when we officially launch the product,” she said.

“The hybrid with the bunks has not made a public appearance as of yet. We want to make changes before it is released as a prototype.”

She also hinted that other new models would be added to the Snowy River range before the end of the year, including possibly a motorhome.

The Snowy River brand has experienced strong growth since launching in 2015, not long after its Chinese-Australian owner took over long-term Australian brand Regent caravans,. Both Snowy River and Regent caravans are built or assembled at a large 14,251 square metre factory in Somerton, Victoria,