The open road Hymer

THE OPEN ROAD

A leading manufacturer of caravans and motor homes, Hymer AG, is committed to maintaining its production of top-quality, innovative vehicles. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to the export sales manager, Mauro Degasperi, to find out more.

Widely appreciated as one of the most important manufacturers of caravans and motor homes, German-based Hymer AG has been producing top quality products for 55 years. Its first production of the Eriba-Touring range started in 1957 and this brand is still going strong. Mr Hymer produced the first caravan under the Eriba name in 1957. The first Hymer motor home was produced in 1962, making 2012 the 50th anniversary of this iconic product.

Export sales manager Mauro Degasperi told Industry Europe how the company is both steeped in tradition yet totally in tune with the very latest demands of its customers. He said, “The name Hymer today is synonymous with top of the range motor homes and caravans. Hymer is considered one of the best available on the market and we are continually striving to ensure we live up to this high expectation. To do this, we are always looking at ways in which we can meet our customers’ changing expectations of what caravans and motor homes should be, and staying true to our promise to make high-end products.”

One of Europe’s most successful and innovative caravan and motor home manufacturers, Hymer produces more than 8000 units each year, of which around 5300 are motor homes and 2700 are caravans. All are produced at the company’s state-of-the-art factory in Bad Waldsee, Germany.

Investment in facilities

The Bad Waldsee site has enjoyed considerable investment in recent years. Mr Degasperi commented, “In 2006–2007 we spent a great deal of money building a new production hall – more than 24000m2. It was one of the largest investments the company has ever made and the result is a fantastically modern facility that is capable of manufacturing up to 15,000 vehicles every year. The only slight issue is that we invested in this increased capacity just before the economic crisis began, so we have yet to truly utilise this potential.”

With the current annual production standing at around 8000 units, Mr Degasperi is focused on developing new business and expanding existing markets to ensure that capacity grows as much as possible. The caravan market is less buoyant than the motor home sector, particularly as it is more seasonal, but the company expects this to be boosted from May onwards, with Easter a known turning point for caravan sales.

Innovation and top-quality products have always been Hymer’s calling card. By both following and leading market trends for caravan and motor home interiors, features and facilities, Hymer is well aware that it can gain market share even if the market is dropping, as long as it has the right products and the right pricing policy. It sees increased demand in smaller vehicles with more sophisticated

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facilities integrated inside, which certainly presents a challenge for the design and engineering teams, but it’s also continues to cement Hymer’s market leading position.

Challenges and opportunities

Hymer mainly sells across Europe, with France its largest market for motor home sales, followed by Germany. Italy has previously been a key market but it is currently suffering from the consequences of the economic crisis. Mr Degasperi continued, “The market in Italy is still dropping. This year alone the motor home industry is down 35 per cent and the caravan market down 40 per cent. This has obviously had a knock-on effect. Different countries have very different pressures, with the various governments trying to help move balance sheets in the right direction, but tax pressures and the price of fuel is certainly having an impact on the caravan and motor home industry. We don’t expect this to pick up dramatically any time soon so we are concentrating on building other markets. In other traditionally strong European markets such as Austria, Switzerland and Belgium we are still positive – there is no real growth but still a good performance.”

Hymer is seeing some signs of growth across Scandinavia but this is not really enough to compensate for the rest of Europe’s current situation. However, the company’s performance outside Europe is looking positive. For many years Hymer has sold to Japan, and it also has an active dealership in China, one in Mongolia and an increasingly strong network in eastern Europe and Russia.

He added, “We will also strongly consider appropriate strategic acquisitions to boost our local presence in these markets as it can make a real difference to the speed at which we can be introduced to new opportunities.” n