Caravan first

Does the caravan still have a chance on the European market? We find out in this interview with Erna Povh, who takes care of the caravan segment for Adria Mobil

Erna Povh has worked for Adria Mobil for more than twenty years and she is now the product manager of the caravan sector. Erna started in the sales department as a market researcher, then became a market executive for the most of Europe and also sales operation manager for some years. After that, in 2016, she became the product manager of the previous Alpina project, her first one. Now she manages the full caravan portfolio, following the lifecycles, leading new product development projects, managing design, etc... During this time, Adria has launched seven ranges and more than doubled its market share in Europe, from 4.9% to 9.4%.

Aboutcamp BtoB: Adria has always maintained a high inter-

Words Antonio Mazzucchelli and Paolo Galvani est in the caravan segment, while increasing its production of motorized RVs over time. Is this a winning decision?

Erna Povh: Historically, Adria started with caravans and became an international business. It became known for good quality products and value for money, so this is still the heart of our portfolio. However, after the crisis in 2008, the market expanded in the motorized sector much faster than in caravans: it was the ‘baby boomer’ generation, which had money and could afford a motorhome. Adria started its first motorhome production in the 1980s and for the van segment in late 1990s. Today, we believe even more in a balanced portfolio between the caravan, motorhome and van segments. The motorhome segment has higher added value which, for the financial stability of the company, is very important, but caravans are a segment that is not dying. We see traditional caravan markets; but we also see many newcomers in this segment and we see a future need for holiday freedom at an acceptable price.

Aboutcamp BtoB: Maybe because of the rise in prices, a caravan could now be more attractive...?

Erna Povh: Rising prices have affected all segments. The buying decision ‘funnel’ will take longer. In the past, the consumer used to read everything on the internet and they were really skilled on exactly what they wanted, which layout, what features, etc., but in the last two years during the corona pandemic, we’ve seen new buyers who did not know the product exactly, instead, they were buying holidays. This was valid for all segments. I believe that the caravan will always be an alternative; however, what we see now is not a completely realistic situation because we sell mostly luxury productsmotorhomes and caravans - so to me, this doesn’t seem to be the next normal, which I think will happen. I believe that the company with a stable portfolio needs to include a caravan segment because, historically, there are more people with great memories in a caravan from their own childhood that they want to offer to their children, and also to have the complete price spectrum to offer customers.

Aboutcamp BtoB: Caravans and motorized RVs: are they two distinct segments in terms of users, design and production?

Erna Povh: Users are different between segments and these differences also vary across the markets. However, from a design and production point of view these segments are not so different.

Therefore, we have established an Adria design language across our complete portfolio. When you see our offer in the caravan and motorhome programmes you see many similar elements from the Adria design language. In the past, there were more differences, and the teams were more specialized for motorhomes or caravans, but now we’ve merged a lot of knowledge across the programmes. Over 10 years ago, we started to bring innovation in to caravans very systematically; the caravan with its space and more defined user, offers more opportunities to innovate. In that time, we established a great cooperation with an external design studio from Slovenia. They helped us establish the design management process and we started to monitor consumer needs. We saw there are different types of freedom; there are traditional users who were caravanners and very often want to stay caravanners. The big challenge are the newcomers as they are very often dependent on the budget they have available and are also sensitive to the very first experience they have with their new product. We conduct

Left: led slhuette light

Sketch: comfort concept phase

Below: luxury ambient - alu profiles at least one design research each year to understand consumer needs. We also established an internal team of designers and we keep working with two external agencies: one is from Slovenia and they’re working mostly on caravans, and then we have a German design agency that we are cooperating with on our motorhome programme. I have to say that, for us, our long-term relationships with these two agencies are very important. Only with years of cooperation can a design agency learn and understand our needs and the needs of our customers. We say that they understand our DNA.

Aboutcamp BtoB: The caravan yesterday, today and tomorrow: what is Adria’s vision?

Erna Povh: As previously mentioned, caravans are historically a very important segment for Adria. I believe that in the last five years we made a tremendous step in brand recognition with Adria caravans, and, of course, we have many initiatives for caravans in our roadmap for the future. Even if everyone talks about lightweight and e-mobility, we still sell