Winnebago Travel Trailers in Australia: A Disaster

More colourful caravans coming

The short-lived experiment of selling bright red, pink, yellow, green and orange ‘Winnie Minnie’ caravans in Australia is over, but local Winnebago distributor Apollo Motorhomes is still keen to inject some colour into the local caravan market.

Speaking at the Sydney Caravan Supershow, Apollo fleet sales manager, Shayne Culverhouse, said there’s a good chance the new Australian-built line of Winnebago caravans, kicked off recently with the 19ft Burke, will also be available in a range of bright Minnie-like colours along with traditional white.

He said because the locally-built vans share a similar, gel-coat fibreglass wall construction with their American cousins, offering a range of bright colours is possible if there’s demand for it.

Culverhouse said there was some interest in the colourful Winnebago models but Apollo stopped importing them before any orders could be fulfilled. He said all imported Winnebago Minnies apart from two of the largest 24ft models had been sold including the colourful display vans, apart from the pink one currently being used for a Dometic promotion.

He said the less favourable exchange rate made importing the US-built vans no longer financially attractive.

“When we started with Winnebago the (Australian) dollar was US$1.04, and then we got down to 69 cents, and now we’re back 75 cents or thereabouts, so what we were paying for a caravan increased by just over 30 per cent,” he said.

“It took all of the profit out of it, so we decided we’d build the Winnebago caravans in Brisbane.”

He said it had been a “steep learning curve” since the Queensland-based motorhome manufacturer and rental business decided to introduce its first caravan in 2010.

The first range of Euro-style fibreglass models were built at its Brisbane factory and marketed under its Talvor retail brand, before they were dropped for a range of boxier, value-packed US-built models in 2012.

However, these also struggled to find buyers, resulting in heavily-discounted sales and revamping undesirable layouts.

A bright new range of US-built Winnebago vans replaced the American Talvor models in early-2015, before they were replaced with a locally-built version sporting a 'dinki di' model name and interior decor more acceptable to Australian buyers.

Culverhouse said the new Burke is “aggressively priced” and “the best product we’ve ever built”.

“Five years of learning and a lot of challenges along the way and looking at other manufacturing options and product from other countries was all put in the mix and that’s where this (latest Winnebago Burke) was developed,” he said.

He said the Oz-built Winnebago range will eventually include eight models – four on-road and four off-road – most with slide-outs.

However, Apollo hasn’t written off a return to US-built caravans “if the price is right”. The company is also considering importing the super-sized A-Class motorhomes that Winnebago America is most famous for, despite only a limited market here.

To cope with local caravan production, Apollo is looking to set up another factory, either in Queensland or possibly another state. The company currently builds around 400-500 rental motorhomes annually at its Brisbane facility, down from around 800 units five years ago.

Meanwhile, Apollo has also injected some colour into its European-built Adria range, with a small 15ft 8in model on display in Sydney sporting ‘polka dot’ side panels.

While not an official option yet, buyers could have the opportunity to order an Adria 402PH caravan from the factory with a choice of AluDesign side-wall patterns, first seen in Europe in 2014.

Australian buyers could also be allowed to go the full hog and fully customise their caravan in one of 29 eye-catching colour combinations, although Apollo has yet to confirm that.