New Age, a caravan manufacturer in Melbourne, achieved a milestone for rolling out its 20,000th chassis at its Epping, Victoria.
The Walkinshaw-engineered 150mm galvanized steel chassis was constructed off-site and will provide the platform for a 16ft pop-top version of the Manta Ray. This New Age model was first introduced in 2010 but was comprehensively updated in 2020, according to a report.
“It’s a fantastic milestone seeing our 20,000th chassis off the production line, and on top of that, the unit being a 16ft pop-top is a fantastic link to our history and journey here at New Age Caravans,” said New Age Managing Director Chris Polites.
“It’s a significant achievement that we are very proud of internally, but importantly, it’s a great celebration of local manufacturing here in Australia, which is really bouncing back after the challenges of the last few years.
Polites said they look forward to handing the caravan to the selling dealership in Melbourne later this year and hope the new owner enjoys riding it.
Since opening in 2010, the New Age Caravans’ Epping factory in Melbourne’s northern suburbs has produced over 70 models, from small caravans to larger toy haulers.
However, the New Age range was recently cut back to six full-height caravan models, and two pop-tops after the production of its recently updated Wayfinder camper trailer was halted earlier this year.
A New Age spokesperson said the Wayfinder which was introduced in 2018 as a more stylish but pricier alternative to the popular Jayco wind-up campers, is still available as a special customer order, but otherwise is no longer being built and is likely to be re-introduced as a new design at a later date.
Like other Australian caravan manufacturers, New Age has struggled recently with production delays due to COVID-related issues, like staff shortages and supply chain hold-ups, resulting in extended wait times for caravan orders as demand for RVs sky-rocketed during the pandemic.
In its most recent CEO update, New Age said it expected to be back to “a 100% workforce level in line with our desired production requirements (from June this year). The production team have also restructured their facilities to increase their efficiencies”.
Similar to Jayco in 2021, New Age has also canceled most show appearances in 2022 and stopped development and prototype projects as it focuses on fulfilling existing customer orders.
New Age has been fully owned by the Walkinshaw Group since late 2018 and said it currently employs around 300 staff locally and rolls out more than 2000 towed RVs annually.
This article originally appeared on Caravan Camping Sales.