A Sunshine Coast businessman who helped resurrect Australia’s longest-running luxury RV manufacturer is now relishing its evolution, with the launch of a deluxe motorhome for off-road adventures.
James Cockburn helped revive the 30-year-old Kimberley Kampers after it closed in 2018, and then navigated it through a string of challenges.
The builder is now “running strong and growing” and making headlines with its latest release, the Kruiswagen.
It has just been featured by major auto insurance company RACQ and leading industrial sector resource Australian Manufacturing.
Mr Cockburn said the new vehicle, priced between $189,000 and $238,000, is a “world-class off-road, off-grid touring motorhome”.
Built on a 2024 Mercedes Benz platform with a factory-fitted AWD and a two-inch lift kit, it has a push-button start and requires a standard driver’s licence.
“With the use of composites, alloys and stainless steel we have created what we know is a solid and capable touring vehicle,” Mr Cockburn said.
“We have also carefully created the living area to have no clutter at eye level, with full surround views from the extra-large glazed windows. We truly bring the outside in. There are no pokey small porthole windows or limited viewing.
“The bed-lift system with a remote control is another impressive feature, giving you a super-large and convenient living area.”
He said the vehicle was environmentally friendly, with elements made from recycled materials.
“We are also the first OEM (original equipment manufacturer) to move into the 48V power world, away from the traditional 12V power systems,” he said.
“The benefits of these systems are huge in terms of weight-to-power ratios and efficiency in electronic systems. This has allowed us to move to a totally gas-free motorhome, running the electric Weber, microwave, induction cookers and air conditioners off the battery system.”
He said the inspiration for the vehicle was a trade show in the United States in 2019.
“The American market was crazy for van life, and they had a lot of really cool concepts and designs,” he said.
“But it was all still backyard enthusiast builds.”
He recognised the ability for Kimberley Kampers to “build a sexy, great-looking van with some impressive off-road bling”.
He said off-road, off-grid travelling was ever popular, and people can do it style.
“We know where luxury RV owners like to travel,” he said.
“(They like to) get further off the beaten track and for longer, travel in the quieter shoulder seasons, and travel the iconic trails like the Gibb River Road and the Tanami in confidence and comfort … and spend weeks on end camped on the beaches of Ningaloo Reef in WA or K’gari in Queensland.”
Kimberley Kampers was formed in Ballina by Ian Canon and his son Greg in 1993 and introduced its first hybrid vehicle in 2006, with the Kimberley Karavan, which Mr Cockburn dubbed a “game-changer in the RV industry”.
Mr Cockburn is the third owner of the business, which has more than 60 staff at its Ballina headquarters, and is its CEO.
The qualified accountant worked with blue-chip companies in London but developed a passion for travelling during a two-and-a-half-year trip around the world with his wife in a Land Rover Defender.
He settled in Australia in 2007 and started a dealership, South-East Queensland Campers and Gear, featuring Kimberley Kampers vehicles, at Caboolture.
Kimberley Kampers closed briefly in 2018 after it experienced “management issues” before Mr Cockburn decided to help revive it.
“I believed it would be a huge loss to Australia to lose such an iconic brand and with my experience in corporate finance we raised funds to buy the company and resurrect it with some customer financing,” he said.
“The journey has been exceptionally challenging with the fires of 2019, the pandemic of 2020 and 2021, and then the double floods in Ballina in 2022, however we are still running strong and growing.
“I have a genuine passion for RVs and this industry.”
Kimberley Kampers expanded into the United States market in 2020 and is now “one of Australia’s largest exporters of Australian built RVs by value”.
The business stocks a range of RVs, including campers, hybrids and caravans, before recently branching out with its Kruiswagen motorhomes.
Mr Cockburn, 48, has lived on the Sunshine Coast with his wife and two children since 2017.
South-East Queensland Campers and Gear was moved to Nambour in 2019 and came under the ownership of Shane McDougall.
