Jayco in Australia developing High Tech products
To keep the momentum up, they are going to introduce a raft of new innovations.Gerry Ryan CEO and owner of the Company made the following statements.
Heading the list of new products is Jayco’s first independent off-road suspension due for release in early 2014. Developed and tested over the past two years, the new independent set-up will cater for growing demand for ‘rough road’ models, while increasing efficiencies by bringing another aspect of production in-house.
“We’ve halved the price of (current) independent suspension systems, in fact the US want to buy the system,” Ryan said at a Jayco media event this week.
Ryan said Jayco is also working on a next-generation range of models with airbag suspension.
Having recently adopted the latest Euro-style decor, Jayco interiors are in line for further modernisation, with self-closing drawers and a hi-tech rangehood with digital touchscreen instead of traditional buttons, soon to be offered on selected Jayco models as well as Jayco’s RV retail accessories arm Coast to Coast RV.
While domestic-style washing machines, wine coolers and dishwashers are now commonly found in caravans, Jayco is set to be one of the first to introduce a clothes dryer on some models.
In a bid to incorporate more of the latest, lightweight European van design and construction (Ryan is a regular visitor to Germany's Dusseldorf Caravan Salon and cites Germany’s ultra-modern Hobby caravans as a major influence), Jayco is currently “working on a new moulding” that joins a new ‘sandwich’ roof with the walls.
The new process should make models like its Sterling fibreglass caravan “stronger” and “easier to build”.
Recently hired industrial design graduate Heather Barrett, who is doing a Phd at Monash University on lightweight materials and applications, has also been tasked to look at ways of reducing weight and improving aerodynamics on future Jayco models.
“Heather is working on some (composite) materials, we’re talking about fibreglass roof bows, fibreglass wall struts, it’s a whole new revolution. We’ve got people searching around the world on technology,” says Ryan.
“We’re starting to look at (aerodynamics) in the future of the caravan. That’s going to be a major player for what we’re doing”.
A full carbon-fibre caravan is also out of the question, though hi-tech composite technology developed at Ryan's majority-owned Global Creatures Productions (the Melbourne-based animatronics specialists behind the King Kong and Walking with Dinosaurs productions) is expected to filter down to Jayco products.
