Elddis Caravans Sold Off
It's been announced the Elddis caravans (Explorer Group) has been sold off yesterday
It's been bought out by German manufacturer Hymer
Anoth company lost to foreign opposition
Comments
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Perhaps it's post Brexit planning. They now have a production facility in the UK. Same goes for Autosleeper which is now under the Trigano banner.
I wonder if the Eldis name will continue for very long. Hymer already have budget MHs under different names from many of the brands within the group holdings. Perhaps they are after some expertise.
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Think Trigano have owned AS for a while. They bought Adria and Marquis Leisure within a couple of days of each other.
I'm sure there will be further consolidation.
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Knowing the way the German manufactures operate I would take that statement with a pinch of salt, they must have gone through all the books and worked out all the costs for warranty claims, because it must have cost a few grand to but a new front panel on our van.
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It didn't work with Rover!!!!
David
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At least it did work when it left the German factory.
Whilst I hate this concept of selling off UK firms to benefit foreign owners, I do feel our "leisure vehicle" industry is in near mortal need of an injection of Teutonic realism about quality. Hymer also can bring, should they chose not only an ethos of building something of adequate quality, the build technology to make durable vans.
Hopefully, we can after 15 years reconsider buying a UK built van, sometime in the future.
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I agree that it is a shame that everything in Britain appears to be up for sale.
I'm not sure why there are posters complaining about build quality. After all the quality survey revealed that everything was perfect. Positively Panglossian
On a more serious note I work for a company that was taken over by a German company and it has generally been positive. One announcement they made that has stuck in my mind is they stated, "You think in (financial) quarters we think in generations.
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Well yes and no... BMW wanted MINI and they made that work, they were not interested in the rest of the group and who can blame them. Things didn't work out quite so well when they took over Land Rover but they did save it from complete collapse with their investment in Freelander.
Without German investment I don't think Bentley would be as good as they are today and the same goes for Rolls Royce (cars)
Things can only get better or Hymer will drop Explorer Group like a stone, one thing German manufacturers can't stand is being associated with poor quality so I expect Elddis, Buccaneer etc etc will become a more desirable product. Hopefully the factory will get state of the art investment which will reflect in the caravans and motorhomes they produce going forward. One thing is for sure, the other UK big names will be paying plenty of attention to this news and wondering what it will mean for them.
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UK PLC has always been up for sale. Just like most western countries companys. If it creates a better & more desirable brand it can only be for the good. Time will tell.
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I think Hymer will stay with the way the UK market like the layouts, but improve quality. Knaus have built there Starclass range for the UK market and done there research and build quality, but time will tell with the Starclass. The difference between German built caravans and motorhomes and UK built ones is that the Germans build for temperature's of 40 above and 30 below our's are built for the looks, and lots of bling, well thats what I think, but always like to here your thoughts.
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With the big show next week, it'll be interesting if this news has an affect on orders of Explorer Group products. Certainly great PR for them, this announcement couldn't have been timed any better.
Buyers who wouldn't have usually entertained a look around an Elddis or Buccaneer might now give them some consideration, though it would be a little too early at this stage to see any 'Hymer effect'
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Agreed, that's why I edited and added the final sentence to my post. However, the news will bring more attention to the brand immediately.
As a 2014 Buccaneer owner which so far (touch 'hopefully dry' wood) has been ok and has reasonably good build quality, I'm very interested to see if there will be a marked improvement in future models. I will be buying again if this happens, perhaps before I had originally planned to replace the current van.
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With The Big Show Next Week, It'll be Interesting ,, ,, ,, ,,
HMMM,
Wonder if there will be a "Fire Sale" at all, might just
be worth Brian foregoing his Coffees 'n Danish and
taking his piggy bank along in the hope of buying
a Brand Spanking New Motor in time for his late
Spring Jollys
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It all depends on what Hymer hope to do with the company. Hymer stand for quality and I cannot see them accepting the current standards. They will either have to simply close down the factory and move production to another of their sites where standards are higher or bring in their own management to get standards up. Either way they should shake up the rest of the industry who will need to up their game.
Given the current MD of Eldiss is staying then I assume they are retaining the factory here for the time being at least but if I worked there and valued my job I would be upping my game.
Having viewed the new Eldiss and Compass models I do have to say they generally looked some of the best designed caravans although I accept that is a personal opinion but others looking also seemed impressed. If the quality goes up I suspect the range is a winner.
Given the group will now be part of a far larger one presumably they will get advantage of the Hymer buying power and could become very competitive if they choose. It could put severe pressure on the two smaller UK builders Coachman and Lunar although I think Bailey and Swift are big enough to compete in the short term at least. With Trigano and Hymer getting bigger though I would not be shocked by more similar moves in the industry.
I do not see a fire sale though as when we were at the Glasgow show several of their models had already sold out of the entire 2017 production so by the time you get to Birmingham I am not sure there will be a lot left to buy. The offer of a pre-order of a 2018 model looks more likely.
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Same here, our affinity is due in April, although when I mentioned that Hymer had bought the Explorer group today when visiting the dealers the chap didn't seem to know anything about it.
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I think that they have announced that the name will be changed from Explorer group to Erwin Hymer group (UK). I expect they will keep the Elddis and Buccaneer brands in the short to medium term. Also worth saying that on the continent Hymer caravans are branded Eriba not Hymer. As all caravans are built from more or less the same components they certainly bring encomies of scale that could help Elddis.
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I am sure Hymer will put a team in from Germany to make an assessment of the situation. A starting point might be the amount of money spent of warranty work as this will be a good indication of where the problems are. They no doubt will also look at production methods to see if improvements can be made there. I suspect changes will only happen or be obvious as new models are launched.
Thinking aloud I do wonder if it is the motorhome side of the business they are really keen on. If the current Sterling valuation continues for any longer period of time European motorhomes will become more expensive and buying into a UK company might help protect them from that whilst maintaining market share.
David
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I fully agree that once currency hedging and/or manufacturer support arrangements are changed/run out European vans will become more expensive. But don't forget that a substantial part of the content of "UK manufactured" vans is derived from Europe also e.g. entire base vehicle loo, cooker, windows, boiler and heating, and many miscellaneous components so I think UK vans will also take a big hike next year which is one of the reasons why I have bought a new "BlueVan" for Spring delivery.
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