Aussie Swag Campers liquidation

[neowatcher]

Apparently, the great Aussie Swag Campers closes down as they are holding a liquidation auction (onlineauctionsaustralia.auction) 

[tryagain]

Thought they might just be clearing out a few bits but doesn't look good https://www.finda.com.au/ad/2844694/

[Bird]

Thought they might just be clearing out a few bits but doesn't look good https://www.finda.com.au/ad/2844694/

12.5% not a bad buyers premium for the auctioneers!

[Cottonbuds]

definatley going into liquidation  we are buying one of the last campers that they are producing.

[hardroad]

Wow. Such a great product at the high end of the market. Wonder what happened.

[MrCruza]

Priced out of the market by cheaper imports Id say. Hard to compete against a $25K import when you start at $53K   

[Spada]

Wow. Such a great product at the high end of the market. Wonder what happened.

pure speculation, but I'd guess the problem could be spelled with 3 Chinese letters 

[rags]

pure speculation, but I'd guess the problem could be spelled with 3 Chinese letters 

Do you mean 3 letters from the English alphabet, that are represented in the name of an a few Australian distributors of imported campers.

[GBC]

I would suggest it is the hybrids that can be had for similar coin. Yes like Spada’s import. Nobody considering a $60k hardfloor is going to be also looking at a $20k imported hardfloor. Believe me, as an import owner who travels with a swag and an AOR owner.

[Craig Tomkinson]

Its a shame another Ausy company going down but there will be a reson maybe the owner or they are started making a great ct and now are turning out a crap product for the money, But when I am up at Penny on Cape York I see dozens of different new and old Ausy made campers trailer and different set ups come in there, Man the troubles they have with nearly all of them, And I hear it a lot I payed a lot of money for this peace of crap, Ausy made or Chinese,   Craig

[tryagain]

I would suggest it is the hybrids that can be had for similar coin. Yes like Spada’s import. Nobody considering a $60k hardfloor is going to be also looking at a $20k imported hardfloor. Believe me, as an import owner who travels with a swag and an AOR owner.

I think the issue is more accurately that there aren't anywhere near as many considering a 60K hardfloor when you can get a (yes lesser quality) imported one for a whole lot less, a lot of the people who are still looking to spend big $$$ are more so looking towards hybrids, and increasingly stiff competition in the high-end hardfloor market like Mountaintrails edx would mean it would be pretty tuff for a company like Aussie Swag Campers.

[Bird]

Nobody considering a $60k hardfloor is going to be also looking at a $20k imported hardfloor.

I think you'd be surprised now from what you see at caravan shows these days and after talking to another aussie manufacturer
the hive of people around the cheap crap is 10 fold what is around the top end.

[Julian Kaye]

 The market has moved on. Hybrids are the present and the future, people looking for high end campers are not inclined to spend $60k and have to sleep under canvas. Still a top notch product though.

[Bird]

Hybrids are the present and the future,

- present no doubt about it.
- future no...

hard floors were the bees knees few years ago... someone will come up with another buzzword named van soon, and hybrids will do a soft/hard floor to the backblocks too.

[grunf]

with possibility of being outcasted here for daring to say what I am going to say ...

first of all it is sad day to see another Aussie company go bust

secondly, not only them - but so many others have priced them selves out of the market
lets not blame Chinese import etc

we in Australia are like sheep, paying whatever someone wants to charge us, its about time we wake up and start sending strong message
how can anyone justify charging 50k+ or 60k+ for a canvas tent on two wheels is beyond me .... now with times there are less and less of those willing to pay those ridiculous prices and this is happening (liquidation, blame game ...)

lets hope in times to come there will be Australian companies who will adopt to the changing market and be able to make quality campers for much much more competitive and realistic price tag

[Mace]

how can anyone justify charging 50k+ or 60k+ for a canvas tent on two wheels is beyond me ....

Spot on.  If I were spending that sort of money id be looking at a van or hybrid.  Diminishing market IMO.

[noel_w]

I was in a position where i could have bought a new chinese built FF camper or a 2nd hand Aus built FF camper with the same name on the side. (see my sig)
In hindsight I think I did the right thing. Am still happy with my purchase minus all the bling a new one would have had.
It is sad to see another icon go down the drain. Modcon have also stopped making units in Australia and now only import chinese built ones.

[Bird]

Modcon have also stopped making units in Australia and now only import chinese built ones.

For a hybrid it costs 3 times as much to make one here as importing from china to your design (to same specs)... Who can blame them, they cannot possibly compete.

[tryagain]

The other factor that most people often don't consider is the new Australian camper companies that are doing well, Patriot, Mountaintrail and Drifta to name a few. There are people who are willing to pay for Australian made quality but you need to be able to move with the market. Companies that are predominately trading on reputation and are not at the forefront of innovation I think are going to struggle.

[McGirr]

We can all surmise the reason why this has happened but until they advise why we can all only guess.

Mark

[Rumpig]

with possibility of being outcasted here for daring to say what I am going to say ...

first of all it is sad day to see another Aussie company go bust

secondly, not only them - but so many others have priced them selves out of the market
lets not blame Chinese import etc

we in Australia are like sheep, paying whatever someone wants to charge us, its about time we wake up and start sending strong message
how can anyone justify charging 50k+ or 60k+ for a canvas tent on two wheels is beyond me .... now with times there are less and less of those willing to pay those ridiculous prices and this is happening (liquidation, blame game ...)

lets hope in times to come there will be Australian companies who will adopt to the changing market and be able to make quality campers for much much more competitive and realistic price tag

essentially yes they are a canvas tent on wheels, but have an add up of the extras on many of them and you see where much of the cost comes from...diesel heaters, diesel hot water systems, inverters, big battery bank / lithium ion batteries these days, ours has a big eutectic fridge not a bottom of the range fridge, what ever rims and tyres I wanted on it, paint it any colour I wanted, came with a solar panel that has it's own home in the front box, usually less poles in the set up, etc etc etc.
Yes they had a healthy mark up, but I bought my trailer 7 years ago and haven't done a thing to it other then add a space case on top of the front box to throw 4 camp chairs in. The choice is there now for people to go cheaper options, that choice wasn't around so much 7 years ago. Reality is, most people that go camping don't need the "tougher built" campers, so why waste money buying one. Many outback "tracks" are good gravel highways these days, they aren't the tracks I drove on 25 years ago, once again making no need for paying big dollars for "Aussie made / better built" campers.

[rossm]

. The choice is there now for people to go cheaper options, that choice wasn't around so much 7 years ago. Reality is, most people that go camping don't need the "tougher built" campers, so why waste money buying one. Many outback "tracks" are good gravel highways these days, they aren't the tracks I drove on 25 years ago, once again making no need for paying big dollars for "Aussie made / better built" campers.

Agreed.  High end Aussie campers are built tough and maybe the buyers of the imported rivals look at them and think "I am never going to cross the Simpson or drive the Gunbarrel so do I need that when all I am doing is heading down the coast to a caravan park twice a year"

I go to camping shows (usually just to catch up with somebody I haven't seen for a while) and I am amazed at the stuff on offer these days. Not just CTs,  but roof top tents as big as a small apartment block, and all manner of gear and equipment. I look at some of it and think "yeah ... nah, haven't  needed it yet, won't need it in future."

I often wonder how much of it gets used. Like the caravan down the road from me that a bloke bought for a six-month  LSL trip a decade ago and now sits 48 weeks of the year.

 

           

[Bird]

I often wonder how much of it gets used. Like the caravan down the road from me that a bloke bought for a six-month  LSL trip a decade ago and now sits 48 weeks of the year.

We have a winner. Not many can afford to have 60k sitting in the driveway 51 weeks a year.

[hardroad]

So who bought a Chinese car to do the hard miles? Who is happy to use Chinese steel on a build project? Who has had a metal roof on their house that has faded?  Who has looked at the reviews on line of some of these imports. The Aussie Swag price last year for the LX was $44800. Yes it is twice the price of the cheap imports. And as the majority of users will only take them to camp grounds, caravan parks etc the cheap imports are the perfect fit. But would you really be happy dragging one behind your Toyota on those harsh outback tracks? Horses for courses. There is a market for a quality product, small but there. What happened to Aussie Swag is only speculation. Maybe they just wanted to retire. Such a shame another Aussie company goes out of business.

[3rd time lucky]

From my own personal perspective, the problem lies in the size of the target market. Australia simply has too small a population to support niche market manufacturers of items that cost $50k+.
The product was too quality. Nobody would question that. But the simple fact is that the number of people who A have that kinf of $, and B want to truly go off road, are so few. It only takes 1 or 2 sales to drop off for the business to die.