Industry puts plans on hold
Manufacturers temporarily suspend operations
The national lockdown caused by the coronavirus has, in effect, temporarily shuttered the leisure vehicle industry for April and possibly longer.
Swift and Elddis announced that they would cease production for the whole of the month, at least. Swift, which at the time of writing planned to reopen on 4 May, initially said it would continue to offer dealer support, but following the imposition of the lockdown, issued a second statement saying this activity would also cease.
At the same time, Erwin Hymer UK, whose brands include Elddis, Compass, Xplore and Buccaneer, said that it would shut for at least three weeks from 23 March, with a core management team working remotely during that time.
Bailey, meanwhile, is suspending all operations until 21 April at the earliest. It has put its whole workforce on paid
‘Some manufacturers are postponing servicing schedules for a few months’
leave under the Government’s Job Retention Scheme, and promised “no redundancies to the permanent workforce as a result of this”.
A skeleton staff, working from home, can be contacted via info@baileyofbristol.co.uk. The firm has also extended the due date for warranty servicing in 2020 by four months.
On its Facebook page, Coachman states that it will be closed “until further notice”.
Lunar’s new owners had only just moved the company to a new factory in Preston when the lockdown started. Director Nicholas Marks said it would be shutting down from 27 March. He said most staff had been furloughed, but a small team was staying on until the end of the week to complete a contract.
The spread of the virus also caused Bailey to cut short its Sahara Challenge. A team had set off from Bristol on 8 March with two Discovery D4-4 vans towed by Ssangyong vehicles, and one Bailey motorhome.
The round trip to the edge of the Sahara was supported by the C&MC and would have been the company’s fourth such expedition. The team made it to Sagres, Portugal (aka The End of the World) when Morocco banned all further maritime traffic.
With the eight-day venture now renamed the Tour to the End of the World, Bailey says that it hopes to be able to have another go at the 3500-mile Sahara Challenge next year.
Meantime, many caravan dealerships have also temporarily curtailed their operations.
The situation going forward
So what does all this mean for caravan buyers and owners? The situation was still a little unclear as we went to press, but some manufacturers are taking steps to help, including postponing servicing requirements to allow owners to stay up-to-date on their schedules. Keep an eye out in the next issue of Practical Caravan for further details.