Another major caravan manufacturer has gone into administration … the latest in what is a growing line of such occurrences.
Network RV – which owns Vancraft, Nextgen, and Victory brands, as well as three Fair Dinkum Caravan dealerships – reportedly left behind debts of $30 million.
News Corp reports that administrators are now looking to sell the Melbourne-based business, which has 129 completed vans and 19 more finishing production.
Across the group’s three companies, the estimated $30m shortfall includes around $10m owed to a financier, $12m to trade creditors, and $3m to the ATO. NewsCorp reports employee entitlements sit at about $1.5m, with potential redundancies threatening to add another $1m to the debt.
The caravan manufacturer had reportedly amassed significant debt. PIC: RDNE Stock
“There is strong interest in the business and we are in the midst of a marketing campaign to key players in the industry,” SV Partners administrator David Stimpson told News Corp. “I am confident such a sale will ensure a continuity in the supply of the Network, Victory, Styline and Vancraft caravan brands to dealers.”
Mr Stimpson said tough economic conditions, global unrest, and rising living costs triggered a sharp drop in demand for recreational vehicles.
He told NewsCorp that minimal customer deposits remained outstanding, meaning ‘mum and dad’ retail customers should face little to no loss.
This news comes hot on the heels of the news that another Melbourne-based Melbourne company Great Aussie Caravans, which also traded as Flexi Caravans and sold luxury vans at dealerships nationwide, has just gone into liquidation.
Another Victorian caravan maker, Sunbury-based Ourgen RV, was ordered into liquidation by the state’s Supreme Court on June 3,
Court documents revealed that the company was facing court battles over more than $200,000 owed to the Victorian WorkCover Authority.
Sadly, several other Australian caravan firms have run into trouble in recent years.
Last year, Queensland-based Zone RV went into administration, with many customers losing significant amounts of money. However, the brand – which specialises in luxury off-road caravans – was eventually bought by Essential Caravans and is still in production.
Other recent examples of RV firms going to the wall include:
While many grey nomads have reported seeing less caravans and motorhomes on the road this year, that hasn’t apparently been borne out by sales data … at least not yet.
The latest State of the Industry Report from the Caravan Industry Association of Australia (CIAA) shows RV numbers increased by 4% to approximately 937,000 vehicles in 2025, including more than 817,000 towable RVs and 119,000 motorised RVs.
Peter Clay, CIAA’s General Manager of Research and Insights, told delegates at the organisation’s recent national conference that this expanding ownership base provided a strong foundation for future demand across parks, servicing, repairs, accessories, dealerships, and tourism experiences.
However, Australian manufacturers produced 23,963 RVs during 2025, down 5% on the previous year, perhaps also reflecting growing competition from overseas manufacturers.
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Let’s get real Chinese imports are killing yet another industry
Australia’s RV industry is very fragmented and can’t compete on price or quality with new, giant manufacturers in China.
There should be more government control of the industry there are to many cowboys out there and there needs to be better control of deposits paid as is with the realestate industry where deposits are held in government guaranteed trust accounts
The current government is proving again that it doesn’t know about nor cares for industry – their major qualification for the job is law & for some reason the watchdogs are not doing their jobs. How can ZoneRv be run by one director & get away with destroying people’s lives?
If we want quality, we have to hold on to Australian manufacturing. Chinese imitations look good but don’t go the distance. Unfortunately people keep buying the cheap rubbish. I
Sorry but the Chinese brands have improved out of sight most are fitted out in Australia with aussie parts just chassis and bodies from overseas .
And most of the fitout comes from Europe, not Australia.
Be careful, look at any other industry the Chinese are becoming or have already become the dominant player. The Chinese are very fast learners! The only hurdle caravans and motorhomes now gave is regulatory and, of course, tariffs.
How on earth can companys owe so much it’s unbelievable??
It’s the chassis and body that is the most critical. Quality of steel and gauge of steel being so important. T
It may well be the same old strategy, enter the local market with price advantage, learn and develop quality from the local market, then once the local market is dominated they can increase prices. They can and will and have in other major categories of product. Just look at the increasing cost on EV’s from China. No longer a dramatically cheap country of origin.
This is nothing new especially with respect to manufacturing in Victoria. Remembering that at one point that of the caravan builders that started up overnight up to 50% were gone in five years years leaving purchasers without Warranty and/ or parts availability..not right
If you pay for vans in advance as most of us have done , how the hell can they go broke ,spending to much on themselves maybe or would it be bad management at all would it ?.
Having had years in finance I find it difficult to understand the level of debt in these insolvencies. They all report massive levels of debt. If this company has 129 completed vans & 19 partially completed vans and a debt of $30 million then that equates to some $203,000 owing per van.. Sale prices would be considerably less than $203,000 each, some less than half that, even worse when you take the deposits & progress payments into account. 100% is not owing on every van. Those raw figures indicate that the business could never repay their debt even If they sold every van at full retail price. At what point did the projected income stop matching the debt and exceeded the current debts without any hope of recovery? What audit was ever done on the business to protect clients? What did the Directors say to the lenders to allow the debt level to reach $30 mil? What did the lenders do to verify the repayment capacity? What monitoring was done to protect the clients?
Companies don’t have to repay all debt from sales. They carry and roll debt. Very common for motor dealerships to carry debt. Interest repayments are less than 10% of the debt. It’s a cashflow issue. Not an asset vs debt. If you were in finance I’m surprised at your incorrect logic. The issue is if the debt is called. In this case cashflow management seems the issue. Especially if owing monies to the ATO.