Top 10 caravan and camper misfires

They say about half of small businesses make it to the five year mark, and that's probably about right in the Australian RV industry which sees dozens of new brands hit the market every year -- while many others fall by the wayside.

As one of our writers entertainingly explained a few years back, low barriers to entry as a result of lax 'self-certification' standards has played a part in the proliferation (close to 200 RV brands in Australia at last count!). Although the added burden of having to comply with the latest RVSA rules has helped put the brakes on many RV start-ups of late.

Here are some more recent examples of RV brands that for whatever reason have been forced to shut up shop prematurely, despite in many cases offering innovative and quality products...

Exceed Campers

Queensland Scott Bruce's dream of going up against the competition with his locally-built, 'tough as nails' Exceed bush camper only lasted a couple of years or so, before he was forced to call it quits, citing the "unachievable restrictions on small business with the implementation of (new RVSA) Rover (compliance regulations)".

Offtrax Feenix

The Queensland-built Offtrax Feenix is another homegrown hardcore off-road camper that had quality written all over it, but didn't attract enough buyers to keep local production going. Founder Steve van Staden pulled the pin in mid-2023 before the RVSA rules came into effect, and now has plans to offer the Feenix in the USA at some stage.

Geotrek Trek-XP

As far as we know the Melbourne-built Geotrek Trek-XP off-road pod camper with its unique fold-out front platform, never made it to full production, despite taking home the Best New RV trophy in the 2021 caravancampingsales Innovation Awards.

The Geotrek was a labour of love for founder Stephen Dannock who together with a business partner, sought a buyer of the business not long after spending a considerable amount of money assembling a handful of the high-cost, high-priced campers in a tiny Melbourne facility.

Little Gem

There have now been at least two failed attempts to sell super-lightweight Italian-built Wingamm caravans in Australia. Most recently former Explorer Motorhomes co-owner John Burke had a crack, offering the tiny ensuite vans that can be pulled by a Corolla to Aussie buyers, under the Little Gem brand name. Despite their obvious appeal the imported composite vans were weighed down by 'big van' pricing towards the end.

Woody Caravans

Gold Coast-based Goldy Caravans is currently flying the retro van flag in Australia, but before that there was Woody Caravans, founded by brothers Shane and Morrie Hook who at the peak of their powers were selling their modern take on a vintage Bondwood model to overseas as well as local customers.

Jackaroo

Another short-lived retro caravan, the Jackaroo was the brainchild of a couple of caravan repairers on the Gold Coast, and was pitched to caravanning enthusiasts as a cheaper alternative to restoring an old Millard or Franklin vintage van.

Fin Campers

Car camper kits have been big in Europe for years, and there are now a few custom-built options available locally. For a short time Melbourne's Fin Campers offered 'plug and play' removable camper kits for owners of smaller commercial vans, that looked great and were easy to fit but suffered from premium pricing due to the local low-volume production process.

System Campers

This Queensland slide-on camper builder called it quits after just over a year in business, blaming the high cost of manufacturing in Australia. It's a shame as the lightweight System Camper boasted a number of clever features, including a two-level, external slide-out kitchen and “pigeon pair” of 95 litre upright fridge/freezers.

Soul 22

Apart from the cutting edge looks and marine-style construction, probably the short-lived Soul 22’s biggest claim to fame was one of the slick Queensland-built vans selling to an overseas buyer for $185,000 – an astronomical amount for an on-road touring, albeit very upmarket caravan, at the time.

Jurgens

Finally, probably not a 'misfire', more a 'spluttering out'...

South African-owned Jurgens Australia shut its Pakenham, Victoria factory for good in 2021, after plenty of brand-damaging news and a some last-gasp attempts to revive sales with the imported TuffTrax and locally built Solaris.

It was a dramatic fall from grace for the Australian manufacturing arm that kicked off in 2007 in Tooradin before moving to a larger factory in Pakenham around 2013. In its hey-day Jurgens was among the biggest-selling, most popular caravan brands in the country.

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