MDC Campers to offer cheaper AusRV caravans, hybrids and campers in 2019
After two years building AusRV caravans in Brisbane and refining them to Australian conditions and tastes, the Market Direct Group (MDC) is relocating manufacture of the composite-walled off-road caravans to its facilities in China.
Confirming the change in production base effective from early 2019, MDC Campers founder and Managing Director Vaughan Hindley said the plan to ‘offshore’ AusRV to one of MDC’s two joint-venture China factories had been 12 months in the planning.
“From the outset, we wanted the technology incorporated in AusRV caravans and hybrids to be affordable to the average Australian,” Hindley told Caravancampingsales.
“Because of the increased consumer focus on lighter weight, we were determined to future proof AusRVs by building them with the same full composite construction methods and to the same standard as industry-leading brands including Zone RV, Roadstar, Avida, Rhinomax, Millard, Concept, Winnebago, JB and Nova. Moving production to China will allow us to do this,” he said.
Fibreglass AusRV caravans will be cheaper out of China
The MDC boss said that all customer orders for current Brisbane-built AusRVs had been finalised and the production line on which they were built at Coopers Plains had been assimilated into the MDC Brisbane production facility.
To reflect the new manufacturing base, MDC would change the brand’s name from AusRV to AusRV International once all AusRV Australian-made stock vans had been delivered.
The move to Chinese production will see all AusRVs delivered in ‘off-road’ specification fitted with Chinese chassis and MDC-developed trailing arm independent suspension, with Hindley saying there was little demand for specific ‘on road’ or even ‘all road’ AusRV caravans.
New logo reflects offshore caravan production move
Their full composite walls will now be built in China, not Australia, however they will still use the same German-supplied fibreglass inner and outer cladding and XPS foam core, as Hindley said Chinese fibreglass manufacture is not yet at European standards.
In other respects, he said apart from the name change, Australian buyers would be hard-pressed to tell the difference in production origin.
“The body moulds for the fibreglass are the same as those we used in Australia and while AusRV International will be imported 90 per cent finished, we will still be fitting them here with the same European sourced appliances and accessories,” he said.
The exception will be the recently-released Centurion camper trailer, which will be “100 per cent made in China”.
China-built Titan Hybrid will arrive sometime in 2019
The Centurion will be the first of the AusRV International products to arrive in early-2019, and will be followed by the 12ft Titan Hybrid Off-Road Pop-Top and the 17ft, 19ft and 22ft AusRV International caravans later in the year.
However, Hindley said that one difference that Australians will notice about the Chinese AusRVs will be their lower prices.
While he would not be drawn on specific figures, he said AusRV International pricing would be aimed at achieving more sales and would follow the Group’s value model that has seen MDC campers dominate Australian camper trailer sales since they entered the market more than 10 years ago.
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