Whenever we talk about RVs, we can’t help but talk about the New Year’s movie “See You or Be Square” released in 1999. In the film, we first learned that life can be so casual. The hero lives in a two-bedroom, one-living room trailer. Although life is hard, the freedom and unrestrainedness are enviable. So far, domestic enterprises have begun to pay attention to the RV industry one after another, and China’s RV industry has really taken its own steps this year.
The most important thing for RVs is the number of RVs. According to the 2016 China Campground Industry Report by the China Family Finance Survey and Research Center of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, the number of RVs in my country exceeds 30,000, with an annual growth rate of about 30%. The growth rate is increasing, showing a hot phenomenon. That is to say, the number of RVs in my country will exceed 50,000 by the end of 2018. Is the market really so prosperous?
paper data
In recent years, the intensive introduction of national policies for RV camping has indeed played a role in promoting the development of the RV camping industry, but the boom in the RV market we have seen is more of a carnival for people in the industry.
During the Beijing International RV Exhibition in June 2018, I had many discussions with people in the industry and agreed that there is a lot of water in the various RV data circulated in the RV industry. I even heard that a well-known RV company sold more than 1,000 units within half a year, and it is expected to exceed 2,000 by the end of the year. Hearing this data, I really feel the “hotness” of the RV market.
As early as five or six years ago, the annual sales volume of a commercial RV company had exceeded 1,000, and it led the commercial RV market with innovative business models. After eliminating the false data, it is far from reaching the level of explosion and there is huge room for development.
similar but different
Sojourn-type RVs and business-type RVs are all refitted vehicles when interpreted in terms of Chinese law. But the same is a modified car, the market sales of the two are far apart. The fundamental reason for this gap in sales is that the sojourn-type RVs and business-type RVs are similar but not the same.
The sojourn caravan is a fashionable product that integrates “clothing, food, housing, and transportation” and realizes “traveling in life, living in traveling”. It is a mobile modified car with basic facilities necessary for home use.
A business RV can be understood as a luxury MVP, which integrates the functions of a sedan, a station wagon and a van. Each seat in the car can be adjusted and has multiple combinations. But different from MVP, most commercial RVs adopt the layout mode with front and rear compartments separated, and the interior decoration is more luxurious than MVP, which not only improves the ride comfort but also ensures the privacy of passengers.
The gap comes from positioning
At this stage, commercial RVs are more suitable for the domestic market demand. For example, most of the domestic mainstream commercial RVs now use the Mercedes-Benz Vito Vclass as the prototype, and the chassis is modified and upgraded. The size of the prototype car is 5370mm×1928mm×1880mm. Even if a roof-lifting mechanism is installed on the basis of the prototype car, the height of the car body does not exceed 2200mm. This kind of data meets the height limit requirements of basements, roads and bridges in most residential areas in China, and is not much different from ordinary cars, which is too difficult for RVs with great space requirements.
In terms of purchasing motives, most customers who buy commercial RVs usually want to enhance the company’s image or have high requirements for ride quality, or they appear as the third or fourth car in the family, just to look fresh. In both cases, the emphasis on appearance is far greater than that on practicality.
Most domestic mainstream sojourn RVs are refitted with Iveco, Chase and other chassis. Taking the caravan with Iveco chassis as an example, the appearance size after modification is generally 5990 mm×2300 mm×3050mm. Judging from the height of the car alone, the height of 3050mm has already given up the plan to park in the basement. Finding a long-term “sleeping” place for this behemoth on the ground is undoubtedly a dream in a crowded city. In China, the real users of RVs are mostly retirees with rich economy and forward thinking. They can drive an RV to travel for a long time without time or financial pressure.
The difference in function has positioned the RV market, and the price positioning determines the group of RVs. After all, the group of people who have economic strength and spare time in China are very small. The time in it is a real “luxury” for many people with financial strength. The pressure of work and family makes it difficult for them to carry out a long-term RV travel life. Commercial vehicles can be used in all aspects of work and life.
After positioning
After sorting out the different market positioning, we can see that at this stage, commercial RVs are far more than residential RVs in terms of sales volume and profit margin. More importantly, positioning not only determines the profit of the vehicle, but also has a large gap in the design, assembly, and materials of the vehicle.
Every time the author participates in industry activities, he will carefully observe various styles of participating RVs. In recent years, the materials, craftsmanship, and seats of RVs have improved several levels compared with earlier RVs. However, once compared with commercial RVs, you will find that there is still a big gap. So are the current mainstream RVs really suitable for the Chinese market? I think every car company has an account in mind.
From the perspective of development, the market prospect of sojourn RVs far exceeds that of commercial RVs. Because with the improvement of the economic freedom of the Chinese people and the increase of holidays, the sojourn caravan will eventually change from a niche to a public. But now it is necessary to design a multi-purpose RV that ordinary people can afford, learn from the innovative model of commercial RVs, expand the user population of RVs, and let more young people buy RVs and experience the life of RVs. Then I think the spring of RVs will come. will be faster. Innovation is the first driving force leading the development of the industry. The author has been looking forward to the emergence of new products that can drive the development of the industry, and has always believed that the RV industry is a sunrise industry.
