With the continuous expansion of the market, more people consider “whether to buy a RV” to “what style of RV do I need”. This transformation means that the market is gradually segmented. How should RV companies face this change?
Every domestic auto show dedicated to RVs is full of crowds, and there is an endless stream of people looking at and choosing cars. The number of RVs is also increasing year by year. Unknowingly, the audience has become an expert, and the perspective of attention has also changed from “what RV do you have” to “what RV do I want”. Starting from their own reality, users have corresponding individual requirements for the functions and uses of the RV. Enterprises keen on the market have noticed that the RV market is gradually being subdivided. The previous “one trick” general-purpose models no longer occupy an absolute advantage. What users need is a personalized RV based on their own characteristics.
Searching for “RV” in the search engine can get about 17,300,000 relevant results, searching for “off-road vehicle” can get about 20,100,000 relevant results, and searching for “off-road RV” can get about 6,880,000 related results. It can be seen that among the various user needs, off-road RVs have always received undiminished attention. The reason is related to the high degree of overlap between the people who first came into contact with RVs and the people who play off-road vehicles. But in reality, making a model have both the two high-standard functions of off-road and RV has extremely high requirements on the design and production of the vehicle. Under this premise, there are very few RVs with off-road functions in the market, and occasionally a few imported off-road RVs appear in the market, but the prices are astonishingly high.
From enthusiast to producer
People who like off-road and caravans are constantly looking for feasible solutions. After searching for a period of time, they find that there is no off-road caravan with reasonable price and strong off-road functions. So some people choose other models as a last resort, while others think that since they don’t have a suitable off-road RV, they can build one by themselves. Master RV was born in the hands of such a group of people who love off-road and RV.
At first, Master RV also planned to find an off-road chassis for modification like the existing domestic off-road RV modification factories. After some market research, it was found that imported RV chassis were expensive and difficult to customize, and there was no suitable chassis in China. So this group of enthusiasts made a bold decision to develop their own off-road RV chassis.
The result was out of control. From the chassis, power chain to the body structure of the upper body, furniture, etc., all of them were developed and finalized by themselves, which not only improved the performance of the vehicle, but also reduced the overall cost of the RV. This can be seen from the “Hanhai” series of RVs recently launched by Master.
Build a car around “off-road”
The “Hanhai” series RV is a 4×4 all-wheel drive off-road RV. The biggest difference from other off-road RVs is the one mentioned above. From the chassis to the upper body of this RV, it is independently designed, developed and developed by Master RV. produced. As an off-road RV, the body length is only 5990mm, which means that it can be driven with a C driver’s license.
In fact, in the early stage of RV manufacturing, Master also considered using the existing chassis in the market for RV modification. However, contrary to expectations, the price of the existing chassis in the market is second to none. The main problem is that there are not small differences between these chassis and the RV they want to make. When the chassis manufacturer proposed amendments, it was rejected because the purchase order was too small. This is also the main reason why I finally decided to make the chassis myself.
After several years of continuous experimentation, the chassis of today’s “Hanhai” series of RVs was formed. This chassis uses a Dongfeng Cummins 6.7L engine coupled with an Allison 6AT gearbox and a double-stage reduction bridge, which can burst out a maximum of 285 horsepower (2500 rpm) and a maximum torque of 1050 Nm (1200~1800 rpm points), it can be said that it has both power and fuel consumption. It is commendable that the chassis has been improved through the installation position of some accessories and a total of three differential locks on the front and rear axles. It is equipped with Michelin heavy-duty all-terrain off-road tires and a central inflation and deflation system, allowing the RV to operate in harsh environments. Significantly improved performance.
The airbag suspension connection is used between the cabin and the chassis, which is more comfortable than the hard connection common in RVs. The car body material is different from the common sandwich body of RVs, but adopts a new type of vacuum honeycomb panel, which performs well in terms of rigidity, heat preservation, and deformation resistance.
Although the body length is only 5.99 meters, the encircling design of the interior of the vehicle makes the interior space of the compartment not appear cramped, and the design of the electric lift bed makes the interior space more flexible. It is worth mentioning that windows are designed at the rear corners of the RV to make the viewing angle of the RV wider. Not only are the living facilities in the RV complete, but the water storage capacity of one ton and the fuel tank of 600 liters also make the endurance of the RV remarkable.
technological autonomy
Now the domestic RVs in the market are generally modified on the basis of the second-class chassis, because there are fewer choices for the chassis, and the homogeneity of the upper parts is serious. As the first RV company in China to independently develop chassis and bodywork, Master RV still needs to continue to improve its product details, but this development route of independent technology is undoubtedly at the forefront of many RV companies.
The communication between RV companies and OEMs is not smooth. Usually, RV manufacturers will produce whatever chassis the OEMs produce. Users’ opinions can generally only reach the refitting factory, and almost never reach the main engine factory. Users’ expectations for automatic transmission RVs have always been enthusiastic, but there are very few automatic transmission RVs in the market. Although this is the result of various reasons, it is not unrelated to poor information communication. Now, RV companies directly grasp the core technology of the vehicle chassis, and through direct dialogue with users, understand user demands, and let demand determine the product direction.
It can be imagined that the RVs produced under such conditions must be what users need, and the vitality of the enterprise has been greatly enhanced. Improving products through continuous user feedback information can form a large amount of technical accumulation and create a product chain from low to high. Of course, it is undeniable that this road is far more difficult than the previous road of RV manufacturing. It needs to constantly correct its own direction to make the final product consistent with the needs of users.
The Road to “Hole Cards”
Facing the increasingly mature RV market, how to gain a firm foothold in the ever-changing market is a difficult problem for many RV companies. Master RV uses technological independence to fight against the ever-changing market, and adjusts its development direction based on user needs. It is a correct route to arm itself with a strong “card”. This road is not easy to walk, but it is an inevitable road for enterprise development, because once it goes through, the enterprise will hold many “cards” such as the core technology of the product and user demand data. It is not a matter of one day and one day to change the natural moat into a thoroughfare. The growth road of Master RV is still long, and the road of domestic RV manufacturing is also long.
