Swift Group reports £40m sales after successful show season

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by Tom Walsh

Swift Group is kicking the 2014 season off on a high note by recording a huge surge in sales across the past three main industry shows.

The company announced that it has generated £40 million from caravan, motorhome and holiday homes and has scored record sales over this period.

Swift was present at the Motorhome and Caravan show at the NEC in Birmingham in October, where sales volumes benefitted from record attendance figures.

The manufacturer stated that there had been a 25 per cent increase in holiday home orders while demand for the Sterling caravan range had grown by half on the previous year.

Other highlights included sales of Sprite caravans and Swift motorhomes which were up by 15 and 30 per cent respectively.

Nick Page, commerical director of Swift, said: “The interest in our large price ticket items such as our new Swift Kon-Tiki Black Edition indicates that people are more willing to spend their money.

“Hopefully [these are] the first signs of a recovery in both the market and economy, giving a very positive picture for the industry going forward.”

This news comes a month after Swift reported its ‘<' . strtolower('Array') href="http://www.caravantimes.co.uk/news/makes/swift/swift-group-reveals-largest-ever-single-holiday-home-order-$21383331.htm">largest ever order of holiday homes, with £5.5m of static caravans being sold at the Lawns Caravan Extravaganza.

Club Care survey reveals £250,000 of stolen caravans for sale online

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by Tom Walsh

The Camping and Caravanning Club’s insurance arm Club Care is urging owners to take every measure possible to protect their caravan following a series of thefts.

A recent report compiled using the group’s Caravan Theft Alerts system found that a large number of stolen tourers are being sold online to unsuspecting buyers.

Websites such as eBay, Gumtree and Auto Trader have all been used to sell these illegitimate vehicles. The research found that 18 caravan have been on sale on eBay with a combined value of over £250,000.

Keith Roberts purchased one of the tourers at auction and ended up losing £5,500.

Tim Booth, from the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: “Anyone buying from this type of source should ask the private vendor to supply to them some evidence of their usage of the caravan in the past – most people involved in caravanning will record their journeys by way of photos.”

To read Club Care insurance’s full report into caravan thefts online, click here.

Japanese artist turns Elddis caravan into Northern Irish art project

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by Chris Jefferies
Art and caravans overlap more than you might expect, and a Japanese artist living in Northern Ireland is the latest creative mind to turn to the humble tourer for inspiration.
Shiro Masuyama, who lives in Londonderry, has been commissioned to create a work of art for the City of Culture 2013, and it was an old Elddis caravan that sparked his imagination.
The result is the Borderline Project, which showcases Shiro’s unique interior design that splits the caravan in two separate zones.
One side is distinctly British, with Victorian paraphernalia and vintage crockery, while the other side features a more modern design inspired by the Republic of Ireland, featuring Gaelic wall plaques that bid visitors a warm welcome.
“Since I started living in Northern Ireland, I’ve found it difficult to understand the particular differences between Irish and British culture in such a complex society,” Shiro told the Londonderry Sentinel.
“The idea of the caravan is to create a small museum to show the difference of each culture.”
His creation has been well received by the public, with an appearance at the Turner Prize Exhibition before a week-long installation on Ebrington Square, which runs until Sunday (27 October).
One enthusiastic couple even offered to buy it off him, but Shiro could not be tempted to part with his work.
Further appearances are planned for weekends during November and December, so keep an eye out for an unusual tourer parked on the streets of Londonderry.

VIDEO: An exclusive look inside Elddis testing at Markbronn

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by Chris Jefferies
When it comes to caravan testing, the Markbronn testing track has something of a notorious reputation.
Don’t let its delightful setting in the south German countryside fool you; this is where manufacturers go when they want to give their new tourers a truly rough ride.
In this video, we meet up with the testing and development team at Elddis to put a prototype Solid Construction caravan through its paces, following a rigorous schedule developed by MIRA and BPW.
David Styles from Elddis explains how the team regularly carries out strenuous towing tests to simulate a lifetime of abuse in just a few days.
This includes towing across potholes, cobblestones and twist humps, with the aim of finding out how much stress and strain the individual components can stand up to.
We also find out what it’s like to ride inside the caravan during two laps of testing, in order to get a first-hand experience of the sheer violence of the testing process, which makes just sitting still a real challenge.

EXCLUSIVE: Meet the caravan beauty queen running for Miss Great Britain

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by Damien Sharkov
“I don’t sell caravans I sell dreams,” the woman who could be the next Miss Great Britain, tells us.
The mask of stuffy marketing slips all but a second later, as she laughs off the stock sales pitch and regales us with a much bubblier and much more subtly captivating picture of a caravan break in Marton Mere holiday village.
Helen Bates, also known as Miss Lancashire, has many talents, having shared the stage with Allo Allo’s Sue Hodge, toured across Britain and hosted her own television programme on BidTV.
There is also the small matter of her modelling career, having appeared in FHM, OK!, Star and Now, as well as on the catwalk. As of the last four weeks, she seems to have added selling caravans to her list of skills.
“I am more of a talking brochure”, she says rather humbly. “The park sells itself… It’s stunning,” she exclaims, as we entertain the idea of pointing out the equity in her statement.
Despite being at Marton Mere for just over a month, Helen seems to have wider knowledge of caravan holiday parks and the British countryside.
She tells us she became acquainted with the industry as an entertainer. “I used to tour the caravan parks with Marilyn Monroe tribute show,” she smiles.
With Miss Great Britain approaching next month she has found herself increasingly busy. We ask her how she manages to balance beauty queen and caravan commitments.
“It is not easy,” she admits “but my boss has been amazing with giving me time off.””Winning Miss Great Britain and representing my country would mean the world to me,” she adds. Born in Yorkshire and now beauty queen of Lancaster, Helen is putting an end to the War of the Roses. “I was brought up to be patriotic and proud to be British.”
Ordinarily we are wary of generic persuasion tactics, but with Helen’s dive into the very Blighty end of the leisure industry, it’s hard not to warm to her.
If any of you want to make sure Miss Great Britain goes to a leisure industry darling you can vote for Helen by texting MISSGB22 to 64343, which costs £1 as well as your standard network rate.
The Miss Great Britain finals are due to take place over the weekend of 14-15 November at the Athena, in Leicester.
We wish her the best of luck as she thanks us, hoping this is not the last time we will be reporting on her. We ponder patenting the idea for ‘Miss Caravan and Motorhome’.

Camping in the Forest expecting Autumn bookings boom

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by Tom Walsh

Autumn is certainly a colourful time of year with the leaves changing from green to a scenic orange and brown hue.

With half term approaching for schools up and down the UK, The Camping and Caravanning Club is encouraging Brits to take a camping holiday over the week-long break.

The Club recommends heading to its Camping in the Forest sites in the likes of Holmsley, Setthorns, Bracelands, Christchurch, Cashel and Glenmore among others to take the incredible scenery of autumn.

There is plenty to do for all members of the family with the Club offering stargazing, guided Nordic walks and forest survival activities.

Bob Hill, sites director at The Camping and Caravanning Club, said: “There is so much to experience when staying on a Camping in the Forest Site – particularly during the autumn months as it’s such a picturesque time of the year.”

Holidaymakers can book a pitch at Camping in the Forest site by logging on to the Camping in the Forest website.

Elddis wins big at 2014 Caravan Club design awards

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by Tom Walsh

‘<' . strtolower('Array') href="/elddis/">Elddis has taken home five accolades at the 2014 Caravan Club Design Awards.

It was a highly successful night for the company, which owns the ‘<' . strtolower('Array') href="/compass/">Compass, Xplore and ‘<' . strtolower('Array') href="/buccaneer/">Buccaneer brands, which are all built using Solid Construction, and these ranges swept aside all the competition.

The winners on the night were the Xplore 402 (Any caravan under £14k), ‘<' . strtolower('Array') href="/elddis/elddis-avante/">Elddis Avante 550 (Any caravan £14-£17k), ‘<' . strtolower('Array') href="/elddis/elddis-affinity/">Elddis Affinity 540 (Small family caravan £17-£20k), Elddis Affinity 574 (Caravan with dedicated beds £17-£20k) and Buccaneer Schooner (Any Caravan £25-£30k).

Other notable winners included the Adria Astella Glam (Any caravan £20-£25k), Lunar Lexon 470 (Two-berth caravan £17-£20k) and Venus 380/2 (Caravans between 750kg and 1,090kg).

Judges were impressed with the attention to detail that had gone into the design phase of the caravan construction.

The Caravan Club said: “The continued aim of the Awards is to provide Club members, and all caravanners, with guidance when looking to change their current van, and The Club’s award results are always eagerly anticipated for this precise reason.”

The decisions were made during the four days of the Motorhome and Caravan Show at NEC in Birmingham and announced at an awards ceremony on Friday night (18 October).

Caravan and Camping Show to return to NEC in February 2014

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by Chris Jefferies
The Caravan and Camping Show will return to the Birmingham NEC from 18-23 February 2014, it has been confirmed.
Following on from the success of 2013’s inaugural event at the midlands exhibition centre, organisers NCC Events are hoping to build on the grand total of 83,854 who turned up in February 2013.
The 2014 edition of the Caravan and Camping Show promises to be even bigger, with an extra hall added to pack in more exciting activities and a wide variety of exhibitor stalls.
As well as all the major names in the UK caravan industry, the show boasts the UK’s biggest collection of tents.
Coinciding with the school half term, this show is particularly popular among families planning their summer getaway.
Tickets are on sale now for the advance price of just £7 for seniors and £8 for adults, while children under 16 go free and parking is included in the ticket price.
Celebrity appearances and special launch events are in the pipeline, so keep checking back with CaravanTimes for all the latest news on the NCC’s spring show.

2013 Motorhome and Caravan Show reports record attendance

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by Chris Jefferies
The UK’s biggest caravan show got even bigger this year, as NCC Events has reported that the 2013 Motorhome and Caravan Show has broken its own visitor attendance record.
Running from 15-20 October across 11 halls of the Birmingham NEC, the event drew in a record 100,179 visitors this year.
Saturday was by far the busiest day, with 26,632 visitors showing up to see the new launches and take advantage of show special offers.
Over 400 companies, such as Elddis, Swift, Bailey and Coachman, set up shop at the show, and some manufacturers reported upwards of 200 caravans sold on Saturday alone.
Key highlights at this year’s show included celebrity appearances by TV presenter Mel Sykes and top chef Ed Baines, who both entertained crowds in the Expert’s Theatre.
John Lally, Director General of the National Caravan Council, said: “We’re obviously very pleased to have achieved another record breaking attendance, but our real measure of success is the quality of the customers we are able to attract to the Show and the experience those customers have when they get here.
“The display of product in the halls was unrivalled. They were the lightest, most innovative, well designed and well specified models we have seen for many years and this is reflected in the volume of sales.”
These latest figures mark a real seal of approval for the NCC show, which is only in its third year.
“For the industry, the sales success of this Show is about more than just reaping a return on investment,” John continues.
“It signals a potential upturn for the industry which we have been working towards since the recession hit. That is the real reason to celebrate.”
To see our round-up video from this year’s show, click here. Or if you missed out, make sure to mark 18-23 February 2014 in your diary, as this is when NCC Events will return to the Birmingham NEC for the Caravan and Camping Show.

VIDEO: What to see this weekend at the 2013 Motorhome and Caravan Show

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by Chris Jefferies
When it comes to caravan shows, they don’t come much bigger than the Motorhome and Caravan Show at the Birmingham NEC.
In fact, the annual October show is the UK’s largest, with 11 halls taken up by hundreds of caravans and motorhomes.
Walk from one end to the other (as we have) and you will have covered 0.7 miles of leisure vehicles of all shapes and sizes, spotting every major UK manufacturer on your way.
There’s so much to see that it’s virtually impossible to fit it all into just one day, so in this video we bring you some of the key highlights of the 2013 show.
Click on the video (right) to let us talk you through the things you can see and do at the Birmingham NEC, including free caravan towing lessons and an archery challenge.
Remember, the show runs until Sunday 20 October and tickets are available on the door.

VIDEO: First look inside the 2014 Auto-Sleepers motorhomes

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by Myron Jobson

Auto-Sleepers holds an impressive accolade – it is the UK’s longest-running motorhome manufacturer.

The company will undoubtedly hope their 2014 range will impress attendees of the 2013 Motorhome and Caravan Show.

Dave Williams from Auto-Sleepers has been speaking to CaravanTimes about the “fine tweaks” that were made to take the already top-performing Broadway collection to a new level, including the installation of travelling seats in most models.

He also talks about the company’s latest offerings in the ever-growing van conversation marketplace – the Kingham and Warwick XL – which combine the benefits of an everyday vehicle with the specification of a high-end motorhome.

Meanwhile the new “class leading” Mercedes range promises to be one to watch, boasting a seven-speed gearbox along with the firm’s renowned reliability.

Dave also explains the Winter Pack deal which boast a significant enhancement in insulation for the van’s water tanks.

Click on the player to the right to watch the video, and be sure to check out the Auto-Sleepers stand at the Birmingham NEC before Sunday 20 October.

VIDEO: Dometic launches new roof-top motorhome awning

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by Damien Sharkov
If you did not happen to pass by Dometic’s stall at the NEC Motorhome and Caravan show on Tuesday you would have missed the launch of the company’s brand new product.
The electric, retractable awning is now available for campervan and panel van conversions.
Should you have ever wished to install an awning on your home-from-home you may have previously written it off as too laborious.
Speaking especially to CaravanTimes, Alan Diamond of Dometic explains how the new features of the company’s fully electric awning have been made suitable for vehicles with a curved roof and how it fully retracts fully at the touch of a button.
Should the Great British weather worry you, Dometic has made sure to include a wind sensor which will assess any gust and retract the awning automatically if it is deemed too strong.
This feature can also be disabled, in the case you would like the awning to stay up despite stronger wind.
To find out more about Dometic’s exciting new product click on the video to the right.