{"id":322433,"date":"2025-12-02T09:21:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T09:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/322433\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T09:21:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T09:21:11","slug":"employees-ponder-bleak-christmas-after-sudden-collapse-of-caravan-manufacturer-zone-rv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/322433\/","title":{"rendered":"Employees ponder bleak Christmas after sudden collapse of caravan manufacturer Zone RV"},"content":{"rendered":"

Questions are being asked about why a large Australian caravan manufacturer has collapsed leaving hundreds of workers unemployed just before Christmas.<\/p>\n

Sunshine Coast-based Zone Manufacturing Pty Ltd fell into voluntary administration on Monday morning with the majority of its 250 workers made redundant.<\/p>\n

The company made luxury caravans under the Zone RV brand, with some retailing for up to $270,000.<\/p>\n

Electrician Michael Odendaal is among the sacked employees facing a stressful Christmas after the sudden collapse.<\/p>\n

Mr Odendaal arrived at work at 6:30am on Monday before being summoned to an all-staff meeting in a nearby field at 9am.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Administrators address staff after Zone RV director David Biggar, in a black T-shirt, announced the collapse. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“We all walked outside, then they shut all the gates and locked them,” he said.<\/p>\n

To everyone’s dismay Zone RV founder and director David Biggar announced the company had entered voluntary administration and handed the microphone to the administrators.<\/p>\n

“Basically what they said is they’re going to freeze all our assets,” Mr Odendaal said.<\/p>\n

“We were escorted [back] in to go and take our bags out, three at a time.<\/p>\n

“We were all obviously shocked. I think we’re all still a bit in shock and trying to figure all this out.<\/p>\n

“Some of us, I don’t know what we’re going to do because we don’t have any money just before Christmas.<\/p>\n

“Now you have to try and look for another job at this time of year, which is pretty sh**ty.”<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

Zone RV director David Biggar, right, hosting a visit from Mayor Rosanna Natoli and Queensland Resources Minister Dale Last in June. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Employees were told it could take six weeks to get annual leave entitlements paid out.<\/p>\n

Two months’ worth of superannuation is also owing, with workers’ super only paid up to September 30.<\/p>\n

Later on Monday employees received emails from the administrators offering counselling and demanding they return any company property.<\/p>\n

“We hereby advise that your services are no longer required and that your employment is terminated with immediate effect,” the letter said.<\/p>\n

A small number of employees will continue working to assist the administration process.<\/p>\n

Concerns about management<\/p>\n

Zone RV is facing questions about customers who have paid but not yet received their caravans.<\/p>\n

On Monday morning, just hours before the company collapsed, an employee directed customer Ray Davidson to transfer $40,000<\/a> as the final payment for his van.<\/p>\n

When the employee returned to the factory the gates were locked.<\/p>\n

\"upset<\/p>\n

Ray Davidson said he felt “angry” and “let down”. (ABC Sunshine Coast: Dylan Morris)<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for administrators Cor Cordis declined to respond to specific questions about when they were appointed, and whether the company should have accepted money from customers immediately prior to collapsing.<\/p>\n

The corporate watchdog ASIC was contacted but declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Mr Biggar was contacted for comment, and the company’s Facebook page has been removed.<\/p>\n

Mr Odendaal said there had recently been supply chain and stock issues, but that was “nothing new”.<\/p>\n

“About two years ago they scaled down and let a whole lot of people go because they had troubles,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There’s been a lot of \u2026 people coming in and going out and trying to change everything, making it worse.<\/p>\n

“It was just a never-ending battle.”<\/p>\n

Mr Odendaal said he had more than seven weeks of annual leave owing.<\/p>\n

“I never really took leave because it’s always inconvenient for me to not be there,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We all just want to know what’s happening just before Christmas \u2014 are we getting any money or not?”<\/p>\n

Former founder ‘disappointed’<\/p>\n

Matt Johns co-founded Zone RV in 2015 and said the collapse was “sad” and “hugely disappointing”.<\/p>\n

Mr Johns had a falling out with fellow founder Mr Biggar in 2020, leading to a formal exit in 2022.<\/p>\n

“Regardless of that I had a lot of pride in what we built,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The core product is strong, they’re well-built caravans, so hopefully that’s worth something to someone.<\/p>\n

“The whole goal was to set up a 100-year company, not a flash in the pan.”\"caravans<\/p>\n

Rows of completed caravans sit parked behind a locked gate. (ABC Sunshine Coast: Josh Dye)<\/p>\n

Dozens of customers who had paid for caravans are in limbo, with some having sunk life savings into their luxury purchase.<\/p>\n

Jason Plant from the Caravan Trade and Industries Association of Queensland said it was too soon to consider the broader industry impact.<\/p>\n

“Our thoughts are with customers who have lost deposits, workers whose jobs have been impacted, and with suppliers and contractors who are left with outstanding debts,” he said.<\/p>\n

Sunshine Coast Council Mayor Rosanna Natoli said the council’s economic development department had been in touch with the owners “offering whatever support we can”.<\/p>\n

\"Mayor<\/p>\n

Mayor Natoli said council would try to assist the business where possible. (ABC Sunshine Coast: Jessica Ross)<\/p>\n

“We really are thinking about that at the moment and keeping them in our thoughts and prayers,” she said.<\/p>\n

“This is never good news for anyone.<\/p>\n

“But we are hopeful that there is a positive way forward for this business which has really been a beacon of innovation for our region and for our country.”<\/p>\n

Coolum Business and Tourism president Paul Miley said the fallout will affect the wider community.<\/p>\n

“Having that happen to a business of that size in Coolum is obviously significant [and] it’s also significant for the time of year that it’s happening,” he said.<\/p>\n

Darren Hocking manages a caravan park in Gympie which until two months ago was contracted to provide handover briefings to new Zone RV customers.<\/p>\n

Under the arrangement, caravans were delivered to the park where owners received the keys and a two-day briefing before driving away with their van.<\/p>\n

Mr Hocking said Zone RV abruptly terminated that contract a few months ago due to “financial reasons” after some payment issues.<\/p>\n

“We are saddened by the recent news regarding Zone RV [collapsing],” he said.<\/p>\n

“We would like to offer anyone who has been impacted heavily discounted stays in our luxe glamping tents or campground stays.”<\/p>\n

The first meeting of creditors is scheduled for next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Questions are being asked about why a large Australian caravan manufacturer has collapsed leaving hundreds of workers unemployed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,181484,181487,181489,181485,181486,181488,181482,180508,181483,180506],"class_list":{"0":"post-322433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-caravan-industry","12":"tag-david-biggar","13":"tag-good-quality-caravans","14":"tag-luxury-caravans","15":"tag-sunshine-coast-caravans","16":"tag-why-do-caravan-companies-fail","17":"tag-zone-rv","18":"tag-zone-rv-administration","19":"tag-zone-rv-caravan-collapse","20":"tag-zone-rv-caravans"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}