Truck and Bus magazine took the new Avida Busselton motorhome for a spin.
THE CHANCE TO TAKE A BRAND NEW FULLY EQUIPPED MOTOR HOME ON THE ROAD FOR A FIVE DAY TRIP WAS
TOO GOOD AN OPPORTUNITY TO PASS UP, EVEN IF IT WAS OSTENSIBLY AS A TEST OF IVECO’S DAILY LIGHT TRUCK.
When people say that we don’t make vehicles in Australia any more, we make a point of setting them straight, because apart from the local truck makers,
there is still a very strong manufacturing sector in RV vehicles, and with COVID this sector has absolutely boomed.
One of those vehicle makers is Sydney based Avida, which has been turning out motorhomes, caravans and campers from its Penrith factory for more than a century.
Sure they don’t make the truck chassis the motorhome are based on, but in every other way Avida and other RV makers are very sophisticated and capable of manufacturing complex vehicles, that are engineered and ready to handle the road and environmental conditions Australia will throw at it.
The chance to take the latest model Avida Busselton away for a five-day jaunt in the country was a tremendous opportunity, and one we couldn’t pass up.
Now some might question why a truck magazine would be testing a motorhome.
A junket I hear you say, well sure, we’ll take that, but the test was actually arranged by the truck people at Iveco, who supply Avida with a lot of chassis they build motorhomes on.
Motorhomes are a good business strand for light truck makers and Iveco has very much focussed on serving the industry as it also does in its native Europe.
The Iveco Daily is a favoured chassis when it comes to motorhome conversions, both in Europe and here in Australia and although Avida use a variety of chassis it generally favours the Daily.
Avida’s operations manager, Billy Falconer, met us at the company’s Emu Plains manufacturing plant when we arrived to pick up the Busselton for our five day sojourn.
As you could imagine a company that has been in business for 56 years, and which has turned out as many RVs as it has, needs to be organised, and that is the impressive part of the Avida manufacturing operation. It is very vertically integrated operation with everything from start to finish managed in house and many of the parts and components made in house using the latest computer aided design and manufacturing machines.
For further information contact Avida’s Nationwide Dealer Network on 1300 4 AVIDA (1300 4 28432).
Discover your dreams in the Avida Busselton or even take a virtual walkthrough via our 3D tour on our website www.avidarv.com.au