TrailLite campervans can sell for $460,000.
Staff making TrailLite’s bespoke campers know exactly who they’re working for.
They have photos and a short story about clients on the windscreen of the vehicles under construction so they know who they’re building for.
The luxury motorhomes can sell for $460,000 - half the average house price in New Zealand - so the finished product has to be just right.
Joint managing director Shaun Newman credits the personal touch and his 100-strong workforce’s can-do approach to building a sustainable Kiwi manufacturing business against the odds.
The Pukekohe firm sells $57 million of campervans (and some caravans) a year and is in its 70th year tracing its origins back to two cabinetmakers, Brian Penman and Jim Crotty who made furniture and caskets. In the mid-1950s they made their first caravan which carried the TrailLite name and that’s stuck ever since.
In 1970 a young and ambitious apprentice Peter Newman started at the company aged 20 where he found the caravan business very much gaining momentum.
His first few years with TrailLite are ones he remembers fondly.
“Things were much more manual then and we just couldn’t make them fast enough. As the levels of modernisation improved, caravanning only got more and more popular.
“Back then it was odd to see a beachside plot where there wasn’t one parked up,” he says.
In 1980 Peter Newman bought his retiring mentors out, and the business has stayed in the family since, with sons Shaun, Adam and Dan more recently taking over.
The early 1980s were a challenging time and the Muldoon luxury items tax of 20 per cent halted the caravan industry in its tracks. The new owners had to pivot quickly to offer up garage builds and renovations to stay afloat.
It was only after the 1984 snap election - which saw the tax repealed - that Peter Newman could put the foot down, adding motorhomes to the mix.
“Our first iterations were lumbering vehicles, offering plenty of time for owners to admire the scenery and gaining a reputation for slowing down the highways,” he says.
So the team kept adjusting and adapting, and with the technology and the finishes getting progressively better, they eventually settled on a formula that became the mainstay of their motorhome.
This design offered wooden finishings, a bed in the cabover, a rear living lounge area and plenty of water storage, plus a gas oven, a fridge and a chemical portable toilet that lived on rails under the wardrobe.
People kept buying.
The steady pace continued all the way through to the 2007 Global Financial Crisis, the toughest years for the business.
But propped up by a solid reputation and some serious cost controls, again they bucked the negative trend, enjoying doubling revenue every five years since.
The sons entered into management roles in 2015, they collectively decided to ‘level up’ again. By now up against European manufacturers - and with very little New Zealand-made competition - the family made the decision to target the luxury end of the market.
Shaun Newman says the influx of European campers following the GFC forced the company to fight fire with fire - anything the Europeans could do, TrailLite would have to do better.
The Newmans completely redesigned the specs and offer, adding sandwiched foam and fibreglass cladding and changing the interiors from wood to mostly modern lacquer.
After Shaun Newman took the team to Dusseldorf in Germany for the world’s largest motorhome show (now a regular bi-annual trip), the group, appropriately inspired, started integrating new add-on features and offering new layout options to customers, helping solidify their reputation as a top-of-the-market manufacturer.
‘‘If we were going to survive, we really had to have a point of difference. That point of difference for us was that we were going to deliberately target the premium end of the market because we certainly couldn’t compete on price. We just didn’t have the scale,’' says Newman.
‘‘From the factory there are opportunities to personalise the vehicle so (buyers) could get more of the things that were important to them in their specific vehicle to match their hobbies and interests.’'
The pivot to quality worked, with customers prepared to pay $70,000 more than for a European vehicle that may look similar.
Newman says TrailLite was able to focus on what makes motor homing in New Zealand unique and give customers bigger water tanks and more batteries and solar panels to enable them to get off the beaten track for longer.
All offer keyless entry, satellite dishes on the roof, solar panels, televisions, and sophisticated electrical systems that ensure the same comforts travellers enjoy at home when it comes to coffee machines, flushable toilets, hot showers and Wi-Fi – even down to washing machines if wanted.
“The Europeans were doing a lot of shiny surfaces, gold and plastic fittings. We decided to go towards a modern apartment feel without the pomp and ceremony us Kiwis don’t really like,” says Newman.
When Covid struck in 2020, TrailLite thrived.
“Covid was another boom time for our business,” he says. “Suddenly everyone wanted a motorhome.
“In retrospect it makes sense, and our options were different because the business is built on local know-how, premium builds, and on-site support.”
Cashed-up customers were feeling frustrated with their isolation and inability to travel.
Newman says a healthy property market is good for the firm. Downsizing seniors use spare cash to buy a motorhome. A lacklustre property market works the other way.
The motorhomes use chassis from VW, Mercedes and Iveco, with the TrailLite team building almost every other part of them. About 300 vehicles are made every year.
The vehicles move down the production line in the 2779sqm workshop back to front, starting with the underfloor engineering, then flooring and cabinetry, then the panels - before the roof is fitted and the interior assembly is completed.
Newman says that because of the size of the vehicles, E-motorhomes are some way away because of range anxiety.
The firm is developing a new motorhome at the moment that will be cheaper than the entry level vehicle that is close to $300,000.
‘‘It is going to more closely compete with some of the European imports. It’s going to be a different price point.’'
Newman says the ‘’grey nomad’' image is changing.
Caravans are popular with families as a versatile, adventure-ready alternative to traditional vehicles like boats and those opting for motorhomes are getting younger with some using them to WFMH (working from motorhome).
Grant Bradley has been working at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism
Paula Ryan has faced some major setbacks in her career but still comes up smiling.