{"id":892655,"date":"2026-09-15T08:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T08:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/892655\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T08:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T08:12:13","slug":"australian-off-road-enters-administration-after-26-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/892655\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Off Road enters administration after 26 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/australia-news\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Australian<\/a> caravan and camper manufacturer Australian Off Road (AOR) has entered administration after 26 years in business.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, AOR said a multitude of factors, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/china-89a\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chinese imports<\/a>, competitors copying its products and lower manufacturing costs in other parts of Australia, had made it increasingly difficult to compete on price.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0a35694e1a01da458f8c2b1413392f603aace922f3018c263dc308eee7a44850.jpeg\"  width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"_0b53bae146db0b62 _7475dd3391ee1518\" style=\"--text-color:var(--color-text-secondary)\">The company cited cheap Chinese imports, copycat rivals, and lower interstate production costs as key drivers of price pressure. \u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/australia-news\/qld\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Queensland<\/a> manufacturer grew out of founder Steve Budden\u2019s Maleny carport into a Sunshine Coast operation that employed about 100 people at its peak. <\/p>\n<p>The company built about 250 caravans last year and has a customer base of about 4000 in Australia and overseas.<\/p>\n<p>Founded in 2000, AOR built its name producing premium off-road campers and caravans in Australia, eventually moving into a purpose-built factory and showroom in Caloundra.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3a5be1761bdd6ae89cdb784ad92337cb225f1ac13cebe9e3f9f5988d6a951ab4.png\"  width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"_0b53bae146db0b62 _7475dd3391ee1518\" style=\"--text-color:var(--color-text-secondary)\">The company built about 250 caravans last year and has a customer base of about 4000 in Australia and overseas.\u00a0Instagram\/@australian.offroad<\/p>\n<p>The manufacturer said Chinese imports had made it harder to keep prices competitive while maintaining local jobs, production and quality standards.<\/p>\n<p>AOR also pointed to manufacturers operating in lower-cost parts of Australia, particularly southern states, where it said cheaper wages and property rents gave competitors a cost advantage.<\/p>\n<p>The company celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2025, the same year it won Gold in the Caravan Industry Association of Australia\u2019s RVMAP People\u2019s Choice Manufacturer of the Year award.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAOR was never simply a business to us. It was a passion for building products that could withstand the toughest conditions Australia could throw at them and provide exceptional backup service and warranty at the same time,\u201d Budden said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat started in a carport in Maleny grew into a business that employed hundreds of people and their families over its lifetime, supported Australian suppliers and trades, and gave thousands of families the opportunity to explore Australia in luxury, comfort and security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/nine.com.au\/\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nine.com.au<\/a> has reached out to AOR for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian caravan and camper manufacturer Australian Off Road (AOR) has entered administration after 26 years in business. In&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-892655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892655","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=892655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}