Winnebago brightens Sydney show

The full range of brightly-coloured Winnebago Minnie caravans has finally broken cover at the 2015 NSW Caravan, Camping & Touring Supershow at Rosehill Racecourse.

It’s the first public display in Australia of the US-built caravans in all five, retina-scorching optional exterior colours, including yellow, green, pink, red, and orange.

The attention-grabbing ‘Minnie Winnies’ didn’t arrive in Australia in time for the Melbourne Supershow in February, where the new vans made a more subdued Australian debut in mostly the standard ‘Grey Cool’ gel coat fiberglass exterior.

“This is the very first time that the Australian public has been able to see the full range of colours together,” said Anita Cripps, the marketing manager for Apollo Motorhomes, which became the official Australian distributor of Winnebago caravans and motorhomes in mid-2014.

“We’ve got a really great response from everyone so far, particularly the pink one at the back which has probably been the most photographed van at the show,” Cripps said on Day Three of the show.

“We’re also supporting the National Breast Cancer Foundation with that van, and donating $500 from the sale of every unit.”

Built at Winnebago’s Indiana factory and priced from $49,990, the Winnebago caravans come in four basic models and layouts, ranging from 15ft 9in to 23ft 7in body sizes with all but one offering a slide-out.

Cripps said the colourful display models in Sydney were all ‘prototypes’ with some further interior changes planned based on customer feedback received thus far. These include extending the length of the double bed on some models and modifying the large American-style TV cabinet ‘wall’.

The first batch of 50, mostly grey, Minnie caravans currently available from Winnebago Australia dealerships have already had a number of changes to make them less ‘Americanised’, including new lighter interior finishes and more modern fixtures such as flick mixer taps.  

Cripps said Apollo had already sold “a few” grey Minnie caravans since they were officially launched two months ago. However, the coloured versions could prove a harder sell, with a Winnebago salesman in Sydney on the fourth day of the show declaring he had yet to receive an order, despite plenty of interest.

Apollo has been importing a range of US-built caravans under its Talvor brand since 2012, but now appears to be concentrating on the Winnebago RVs along with the lightweight, European Adria caravans within its 'imported' division.

Apollo also displayed its new range of Australian-built, Winnebago-badged motorhomes alongside the Minnie caravans at the Sydney show.

Built at Apollo’s Brisbane factory, the Winnebago motorhomes and campervans are essentially ‘re-badged’ Talvor models, albeit with slightly different layouts and interior décor.