The Trigano Group saw a 3.8% growth in overall sales to €3.8bn last year, new figures have revealed.
The multinational group, which in the UK includes Adria, Auto-Sleepers (which produces ‘vans such as the Auto-Sleepers Active FG635 pictured above), Auto-Trail, Chausson, Benimar, Mobilvetta, Panama, Roller Team and the Marquis Leisure dealer network, saw motorhome sales rise by 4.2% to €2.88bn in the year to the end of August this year. Caravan sales actually increased more rapidly, rising by 14.7% to €137m.
The company also saw deliveries of motorhomes to dealer networks rise by 7%, while caravan deliveries increased by 15%. The news comes as a new Trigano-owned brand has just launched in the UK, with Atom Motorhomes initially offering two VW Crafter-based campervans.
The company says the European market has been highly resilient, despite economic and political headwinds, with new registrations on a par with the previous year at 160,000 units.
Only its home country of France saw a 6% dip in sales, which it says was caused by political uncertainty and distribution problems.
Germany and the UK remained broadly stable, down just 1.7% and 1.3% respectively, while there were significant increases in sales in Sweden (up 47.7%), Spain (up 22.2%), Belgium (up 9.6%) and Italy (up 5.6%).
The company acknowledge the strong visitor numbers at national shows across the continent, including the 259,000 visitors at Caravan Salon. But it says this had not yet translated into a noticeable growth in sales. So it is keeping motorhome production stable for the first half of its new financial year.
In other news, Wellhouse Leisure has launched its first ever all-electric Kia PV5 campervan. Prices for the Kia PV5 i-Camper start from £59,995 and the first batch of 30 vehicles has already been sold.
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