RVs are no longer rare, and the market segment of RVs is gradually being refined. Due to its excellent performance on non-paved roads, off-road RVs are favored by many players, among which a good off-road chassis is indispensable for supporting “off-road”.
With the holding of the “Alxa Heroes Meeting” every year, off-road vehicle enthusiasts from all over the country come one after another, and the scene is grand and lively. Especially on the eve of the event, there are countless off-road vehicles of all kinds near Alashan, Inner Mongolia. Among the many off-road vehicles, there are many kinds of off-road RVs, which are very suitable for outdoor activities such as the Alxa Heroes Club because they are not restricted by accommodation and terrain.
If you count the off-road RV styles that appear in Alxa, there are three common ones:
1. Trucks. Most of these RVs are modified based on the chassis of Unimog or Mercedes-Benz MAN. The biggest feature of this type of RV is its large size, large body, and large space.
Second, pickups. It is upgraded and transformed on the basis of a pickup truck, and eventually becomes a C-type RV or a piggyback RV. Commonly used chassis include D-max, Tundra, Raptor, Foton pickup, etc. This type of caravan is mostly small in space, but flexible in mobility.
3. Light passenger vehicles. Representative models include Iveco Newdaily 4×4 chassis. This type of car has more space than a pickup truck, but it is less flexible.
So many types of off-road chassis have given birth to more off-road RVs. In the competition for the terminal market of off-road RVs, how to use their own advantages to occupy the market has become the primary problem for each brand to solve.
Take the Unimog as an example, there is a proverb in the German army that “Where the Unimog can’t go, neither can the Leopard tank”. Its own strong off-road performance can be seen in general. But its own shortcomings are also obvious. First of all, the comfort level is worse than that of passenger models. Secondly, the plasticity is not high. The unique body characteristics of trucks make RV refitters feel like they have nowhere to go. Therefore, the appearance of many truck RVs retains a strong truck style. Finally, there is the price. As the king of outdoor all-rounders, the price of the Unimog is not cheap. The price of a single chassis is more than one million yuan, and the finished RV costs several million yuan. In this way, many users are kept out of the door. .
The price of a pickup car converted from a pickup truck also varies depending on the brand, but it is much less than that of a truck-type RV like the Unimog. The price of the D-Max pickup produced by Jiangxi Isuzu is only 110,000 to 210,000 yuan, so the price of the final RV products is mostly civilian RVs. However, although the pickup RV has a price advantage, it also has many shortcomings. Due to the use of the interior space of the pickup truck for modification, after becoming a caravan, the interior space is generally small. The living facilities are also mainly simple, practical and multi-combination. If it is a piggyback RV that is directly installed, there is a significant gap in space, heat preservation, and sound insulation compared with ordinary RVs.
Off-road RVs do not have high demand for road conditions and camps, and are very suitable for today when there is a clear gap between domestic camp construction and foreign countries. Therefore, many RV manufacturers are also aiming at this market and launching their own RV models one after another. Among the previous RV exhibitions, off-road RVs are the highlight. But it should also be noted that many models exhibited at the exhibition have just finished rolling off the assembly line, and the author even saw cars with obvious defects in the drain appearing at the exhibition. Compared with how long it takes to occupy the market, whether the quality of the product passes the test should be more important.
For off-road RVs, both “off-road” and “living” are indispensable. Some RV companies think that as long as the furniture is installed on the off-road chassis, it can be called an “off-road RV”, and they don’t consider the center of gravity, counterweight, structure, etc. of the RV. In this way, it is easy to form a situation that the off-road RV cannot go off-road. A good off-road RV needs to go through the test of long-term extreme road surfaces. It is obvious that domestic RVs have not done enough road tests and are not good enough. It is hoped that manufacturers who are already producing off-road RVs or are preparing to produce off-road RVs will put more effort into product design and product reliability, and do not rush for success and self-defeating.
