Unusual Tow Vehicle
I have seen more than one of these. Owners change to parabolic springs and air seats. Caravan is lightweight about 7,000lbs. 5.2 Diesel, . Payload is enormous compared to a Pickup. It has absolutely...
Forum Discussion
Shinerbock etc,
Shinerbock is spot on again and so are some of the otyher comments from those who really do know.
I had owned and run n engineering company for decades and our projects were with the Big 3 van, SUV, and Pickup programs mostly by far and were done by invite from the corporate engineering. Heard many discussions from engineers as to how insignificant the Australian market was and it was constantly being on the chopping block as sales were always low and had become unsustainable due to high cost of operations there. Most everything is ultra expensive in Australia and the market for our type of tow vehicle had become very small do to the selling prices there and it sure was and is true.
The average family did not have the financial capability of purchasing a tow vehicle and an RV, thus the delima was either to offer a smaller cheaper less capable tow vehicle coupled with either smaller or lighter or both towables so the average buyer could even afford to RV travel. A no brainer! Since other countries were already producing these type of vehicles and the market was so limited, made no sense for the US tow vehicle manufacturers to spend billions for such a small possible return so they didn't nd won't. Let them import from already produced offerings that fits their wants and their very different from ours needs.
Smaller and lighter requiring a less capable tow vehicle is what had happened and a lot of their appeal was increased fuel mileage. Most of Australia is very flat to rolling unlike the USA or Canada and the population in Australia is mostly on the east side of the continent and powerful tow vehicle weren't really needed anyway. Yet the market is still remains very small per capita today.
Yes, we have traveled a lot but not to Australia and have no desire to. It's our choice! Some may remember that our son owned a automotive seat manufacturing company in the midlands of England for years before selling and moving back to Michigan and retiring at 49 years old. Yup, been across the pond and toured various countries there and also my wife was a Travel Agent, trainer, and investigator of new venues for a couple decades and yes, in Europe too, and many other countries, and we made many trips to South America countries and also went on 16 cruises too to North and South America so we sure have seen years of various landscapes and infrastructure.
Australia went a different direction in their vehicle desires than ours and so be it as the market is small and so far away and so little to be gained if any but lots to lose. Might be noticed that our manufactures here are basically maxed out with producing tow vehicles, (trucks, vans, and SUV's) for our market right here so why would they put emphasis on a very small market 12,000 miles away??? Not rocket science!
Those on this forum that actually know us (there are many and some of us also RV together too) know that I speak the truth as written. Several of us have also been to each-others homes more than once also. We communicate by phone or chatting sites/email rather than on forum PM's or eye to eye. Any of them are welcome from me to chime in if they so desire.
Shinerbock is spot on again and so are some of the otyher comments from those who really do know.
I had owned and run n engineering company for decades and our projects were with the Big 3 van, SUV, and Pickup programs mostly by far and were done by invite from the corporate engineering. Heard many discussions from engineers as to how insignificant the Australian market was and it was constantly being on the chopping block as sales were always low and had become unsustainable due to high cost of operations there. Most everything is ultra expensive in Australia and the market for our type of tow vehicle had become very small do to the selling prices there and it sure was and is true.
The average family did not have the financial capability of purchasing a tow vehicle and an RV, thus the delima was either to offer a smaller cheaper less capable tow vehicle coupled with either smaller or lighter or both towables so the average buyer could even afford to RV travel. A no brainer! Since other countries were already producing these type of vehicles and the market was so limited, made no sense for the US tow vehicle manufacturers to spend billions for such a small possible return so they didn't nd won't. Let them import from already produced offerings that fits their wants and their very different from ours needs.
Smaller and lighter requiring a less capable tow vehicle is what had happened and a lot of their appeal was increased fuel mileage. Most of Australia is very flat to rolling unlike the USA or Canada and the population in Australia is mostly on the east side of the continent and powerful tow vehicle weren't really needed anyway. Yet the market is still remains very small per capita today.
Yes, we have traveled a lot but not to Australia and have no desire to. It's our choice! Some may remember that our son owned a automotive seat manufacturing company in the midlands of England for years before selling and moving back to Michigan and retiring at 49 years old. Yup, been across the pond and toured various countries there and also my wife was a Travel Agent, trainer, and investigator of new venues for a couple decades and yes, in Europe too, and many other countries, and we made many trips to South America countries and also went on 16 cruises too to North and South America so we sure have seen years of various landscapes and infrastructure.
Australia went a different direction in their vehicle desires than ours and so be it as the market is small and so far away and so little to be gained if any but lots to lose. Might be noticed that our manufactures here are basically maxed out with producing tow vehicles, (trucks, vans, and SUV's) for our market right here so why would they put emphasis on a very small market 12,000 miles away??? Not rocket science!
Those on this forum that actually know us (there are many and some of us also RV together too) know that I speak the truth as written. Several of us have also been to each-others homes more than once also. We communicate by phone or chatting sites/email rather than on forum PM's or eye to eye. Any of them are welcome from me to chime in if they so desire.
