Fieldays

23rd June 2011

We were at the National Fieldays last week, along with a handful of other motorhome manufacturers and dealers.  We had a great show with lots of really positive feedback.  It was the first real showing for the new lowline range and we were chuffed with the positive response.  The weather mostly held out too.  Anyone who has been to a Fieldays in the rain will tell you she can turn pretty miserable, pretty quick (especially if you’re showing people in gumboots through brand new motorhomes!).

Our next big show is the Motorhome, Caravan and Outdoor Supershow in Auckland on 9-11 September.  Click here for more>>>



Our extensions

23rd June 2011

We’ve grown and changed a lot over the last few years.  Unfortunately our building hasn’t grown and changed with us.  That’s all being sorted at the moment with extensions to our offices and reception.  We’re also using the opportunity to upgrade and improve our reception and waiting area.  Our Interior Designer, Victoria Scott has come up with a new layout and décor that reflects the beautiful environment we build into every Trail-lite.

It's a bit of a mess around here at the moment, but we look forward to showing you around soon.

New lowline photoshoot

21st April 2011

Those of you who have been to visit us recently will know that we’ve been working on a new lowline range of motorhomes.  Lighter, lower and easier to drive they’ve been the product of several years research and development. 

Part of the development process is the promotion and launch of the new models.  Here’s some photos from this weeks photo shoot.  You’ll see the final photos appearing soon.  We hope you like what we’ve been doing.

A mint old Trail-lite

20th December 2010

Check out this mint 1976 Trail-lite caravan currently selling on Trade Me for $17,995.  We think this is a great reflection of what we still do here at Trail-lite – building amazing quality motorhomes and caravans that are still providing fun family holidays 34 years later!  This particular unit looks really original, right down to the groovy 70’s style fabrics, light fittings and flooring.  If this sells soon, don’t be surprised if we’ve bought it ourselves!

http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=330916320

2010 TGT

16th November 2010

On the weekend of 8-10 October, 86 motorhomes took over the Kumeu A&P Showgrounds. Not for a simple overnight stay. But for what they called “a fun get together of owners of the Rolls Royce of motorhomes.”

And what a roaring success it was. Open to owners of Trail-lite motorhomes and caravans of any vintage, including RoadCraft motorhome, row upon row of motorhomes lined up for a weekend of activities.

In its second year, the 2010 Trail-lite Get Together (TGT) drew owners from both the North and South Islands, with attendance more than doubling that of the inaugural event held in Christchurch.

From catered meals to karaoke, a northern dance band, open homes, and trade talks/Q&As with the Trail-lite service and design teams, the 2010 Trail-lite Get Together cemented itself as an annual event that is likely to continue its rise in popularity and attendance.

“We’re mostly retired people, likeminded in many ways and with common interests,” says event organiser, John Whiting.

“We all realise that there is more to life than working hard. And we appreciate being owners of the Rolls Royce of motorhomes. They way Trail-lite treat us as owners, the after-hours service – and supporting events such as this – is nothing short of exceptional.”

With this in common, 177 attendees enjoyed “lots of conviviality and laughter, 5pm daily happy hour, a spit-roast for dinner on the Saturday night” and raised $1500 for the Westpac rescue helicopter through profits from a second-hand book stall at the event.

Nothing could dampen the event which had to be moved to a larger venue to cater for the demand.

“The weather was fantastic. The people were brilliant,” says John. “The sheep hadn’t been taken out of the paddocks until just before we arrived at the Showgrounds—and had left a few packages behind for us—but even that was simply more cause for a few laughs.”

Providing administration and sponsorship support for the event “was a pleasure” says Trail-lite General Manager, Shaun Newman.

“Together with the owners of our motorhomes, we have formed a close-knit community and its one we are happy to foster. Being on the open-road and enjoying this country of ours doesn’t need to be an isolated experience. Rather, it’s a way to form new friendships amongst a great bunch of fantastic and friendly people.

“We keep our motorhome owners in touch with each other by supporting events such as this, and through a regular newsletter. This community has ensured that those who are new to the motorhome lifestyle have a world of opportunities and friendship open to them as they venture out onto the open road.”

It’s a community that works, as the 2010 Trail-lite Get Together showed:

“Everywhere you went there was laughter,” says John. “The weekend shows what Trail-lite motorhome owners are like. Life doesn’t end at retirement, it starts! The amount of people who came up to my wife and I to say thank you was just amazing.”

To find out when and where the next Trail-lite Get Together will be held, sign up for our newsletter.

Great new trailer hitch

8th November 2010

Here’s a great video sent to us recently of a very innovative caravan hitch.  It does look very inventive, but we’re not entirely surprised that it never took off.

Our new 2011 models

5th October 2010

People have been asking us to upload pictures of our new 2011 models that we launched at the Supershow, so here they are.

Enjoy!



Landmark 720 Coromandel looking towards the large rear lounge.  Note the new LED mood lighting and high gloss finish on the kitchen furniture.

Looking towards the large kitchen and ensuite bathroom in our Landmark 720 Coromandel.  You'll see that we've done away with cupboards in the kitchen, instead opting for large drawers with a central locking system.

Our flagship Landmark 820 Oakura featuring a slide out room extension in the lounge.

The Oakura floorplan features a queen sized island bed in the rear of the motorhome.  The doors of the ensuite style bathroom close to create a private sleeping area.

The Landmark Oakura 820 is perfect for entertaining!

Our new Basecamp Akaroa 650 lowline was called the best value motorhome of the show more than once.  It's lighter, lower and easier to drive then any other Trail-lite and has been a big seller since our return.

The Basecamp range feature New Zealand inspired interior design by our in house designer, Victoria Scott.

A bed at floor level, a large kitchen and generous bathroom with seperate shower make the Akaroa floor plan one of our most popular motorhomes.

Supershow roundup

23rd September 2010

If you went to the Auckland Caravan and Motorhome Supershow on the weekend we think you’ll agree that it was a great event.  It was well run, with impressive numbers of motorhome and caravans fan making their way through the huge range on display.  We hope you’ll also agree that the Trail-lite site looked fantastic.  We let Victoria, our Interior Designer have creative control of the site for this show and she did a great job, recreating a luxury hotel lobby in the central area of our site.  Victoria very cleverly created a theme for each motorhome.  From breakfast in bed, to jazz and cocktails, to a romantic setting in one of our new motor-apartments, they all looked and felt fantastic.

We were really happy with how the motorhomes we had at the show turned out.  Especially as we had so many new innovations and interior design features on display for the first time.  We had seven vans there, ranging from our luxury 8.3M Landmark Oakura, complete with a slide-out lounge and 600L of fresh water, to the newest member of our family, the sporty low-line Basecamp Akaroa.  Our entire team really chipped in to get the motorhomes ready and looking great.  It was a true team effort and we’re really proud of what they acheived.

Mandy ran a seminar each day in the Trail-lite sponsored seminar area on what to look for when buying a new motorhome.  Based on our popular buyers guide, Mandy talked through some of the important questions to ask when selecting a new motorhome.  It was standing room only on two of the days and she received really positive feedback.  If you missed the seminar and want a copy of the free motorhome buyers guide, or a copy of the slides from Mandy’s presentation, drop us an e-mail or give us a call. 

We hope you had as much fun at the show as we did.  The positive comments and feedback we received over the three days were really pleasing.  With some of Europe, America and Australia’s leading manufacturers represented at the show, I hope we proved that New Zealand manufacturers can provide sophistication, innovation and quality to rival anything, anywhere in the world.  Thanks so much for your support.



Dusseldorf Caravan Salon

10th August 2010

The world’s largest motorhome and caravan expo starts in a few weeks time.  Held in Düsseldorf, Germany, the expo is made up of a staggering 580 exhibitors, over 2,000 motorhomes and caravans, all within an enormous 200,000 square metres of exhibition space.

We regularly attend shows around the world and this year is no different.  We took a group to the Queensland show earlier in the year and in a few weeks time Pete and I will be at the Düsseldorf expo. 

We’re looking for several things when we attend shows.  The first is new components and technology.  It can be tough being a New Zealand manufacturer as we don’t always have access to the same range of products as our European counterparts.  Attending the shows means we can meet with hundreds of suppliers from around the world at the same place.  We usually have an idea of what we’re looking for before we go and have a long list of meetings planned, but often the best finds are the ones you weren’t expecting.

The second reason we place a large emphasis on attending motorhome and caravan shows is that we want to be ahead of the trends.  When we attended the Düsseldorf expo in 2008 we identified that there was an increasing focus on more cost effective, smaller motorhomes.  We subsequently launched our Basecamp range of great value, lighter and easier to drive motorhomes which have been a huge success.  We’re in the process of developing a very exciting product for launch next year and at Düsseldorf we’ll be able to confirm that it’s as good as any other comparable product in the world (except with kiwi made build quality and class leading self contained camping built in of course!).

The Düsseldorf expo is also a great time for a couple of guys who are very passionate about what we do.  We’re looking forward to bringing home the latest and greatest innovations for our 2011 Trail-lite and RoadCraft models.  We’ll be sure to post photos of some of the highlights here on our return.

Shaun

Auckland Supershow

2nd August 2010

Are you going to the Auckland Caravan and Motorhome Supershow on 17 -19 September?  It’s shaping up to be a great event, unlike anything seen in New Zealand before.  We’ll be there and we’ll be featuring a range of improvements and upgrades to our motorhomes.  These include the biggest changes to our motorhome interiors in the past 50 years.  The new Landmark series will feature innovations like soft close drawers, LED mood lighting, stone bench tops, a powered central locking system for the kitchen drawers and an all new luxury bathroom design.  The Basecamp range hasn’t been left out and also gets a range of improvements.

You don’t have to wait until the September to see the new Trail-lite range though.  Call in and see us and we’ll happily show you the vans going together in our factory.  We’d love your feedback.