HARD ON THE OUTSIDE SOFT ON THE INSIDE
Ever since the turn of the century, 19 years ago, the Australian camper trailer industry has been in a state of flux. Consumer tastes have moved rapidly through preferred paradigms and fit-outs. Side-fold soft-floors, rear-fold hard-floors and pull-out bed pop-tops are all now out of favour. Even forward-folds, which dominated not that long ago, are slipping in favour of double-folds.
But hybrids — that is, RVs that blend the comfort and convenience of a caravan with the outdoor lifestyle of a camper trailer — are still on the up. If, as a manufacturer, you haven’t got one in your range of products, you’re missing a big chunk of the current market. The latest to join the hybrid ranks is Sydney’s Blue Tongue Campers.
Blue Tongue is a brand that’s been around for more than a decade. It began by manufacturing its own side-fold soft-floors, but moved to importing rear-folds and then forward-folds when the market trends were moving in that direction and the space wasn’t available at the time to make them all themselves. The imports soon squeezed out the locally made campers and the business became a wholly import-based business about five years ago.
And while the basic rolling campers come in in containers, it’s always been on the basis
