From the CEO: Reading the market

It would be naive to pretend the past few months have been easy for our industry.

Several dealerships and manufacturers have closed their doors. For the people affected – customers, employees and suppliers among them – that pain is real. As the peak national body, we think it’s important to speak plainly about what is happening and where we see this heading.

Consolidation, not collapse

The businesses that have closed in recent weeks are genuinely difficult stories, and we do not want to minimise that. But this is not a sign that Australians have fallen out of love with caravanning.

Our latest State of the Industry Report shows the national RV fleet grew to 937,000 vehicles in 2025, a 4 per cent increase year-on-year, with more than 817,000 towable RVs on the road. That is a strong and expanding base of caravanners underpinning demand for parks, servicing, accessories and dealerships for years to come.

Feedback from dealers is consistent: stock that is already on the floor is still moving, albeit more slowly. Buyers have not disappeared, they have simply become more considered, and that is prompting more value-focused offers from dealers keen to keep inventory turning.

Lead times have also improved markedly compared with the extended waits of recent years, which points to a market working through an adjustment rather than one in structural decline.

What we are seeing is better described as consolidation. Fewer, better capitalised businesses emerging from this period is a healthier long-term outcome than an oversaturated, thinly margined market.

Reasons for optimism

Two developments should support a firmer back half of the year.

First, the spring buying season is approaching. Historically, this is one of the busiest buying windows of the year, when school holiday and end-of-year planning begins and consumers feel happier as the weather warms up.

Second, there’s greater certainty around fuel security, or a level of de-sensitivity around fuel availability. With fuel shipments through the Strait of Hormuz expected to resume (once the current new wave of conflict eases), retail petrol prices will hopefully move away from shock earlier peaks.  Should that trend continue, it removes one of the more direct handbrakes on touring intentions and, by extension, on caravan purchase decisions.

Our outlook

There will likely be more bumps in the road before this settles. That’s the nature of a market working through a correction rather than coasting through a boom.

The fundamentals remain the same: a large and growing base of caravan owners, a culture of camping ingrained in Australia’s national identity and a market shedding excess capacity rather than losing its customer base.

That’s exactly why we’re supporting No Better Time, a $3 million industry stimulus campaign backed by our state trade association members. It’s a direct investment in giving Australians the confidence to get back on the road, back into a dealership and back behind the wheel of the right van for them.

That’s the story our industry has always told best: there’s always a way forward. There has been pain. There may be a little more yet. But what’s taking shape on the other side is a stronger, more sustainable industry.

As always, our door is open. If you’d like to talk through any of this, get in touch with the team at Caravan Industry Association of Australia.

Stuart Lamont
CEO
Caravan Industry Association of Australia