What's the difference?
Hybrid campers are no longer a new development in caravanning and camping. We've been seeing trailers like them, in some form or another, for nearly two decades.
The concept is straightforward: hybrid campers offer some of the best comforts of a caravan (solid walls, proper beds, little to no set-up time) with the best aspects of camper trailers (light, small, rugged and able to be towed nearly anywhere).
Although Blue Tongue Campers has been a leader in the traditional camper-trailer market for more than a decade, its first hybrid has been a long time coming. First chance we got, we hooked it up and headed out to Wee Jasper to see what it's about.
There are currently 14 rivals competing for customers in the Light Duty or LD (3501-8000kg GVM) segment of Australia’s heavy commercial vehicle market. Business buyers and fleet operators are thick on the ground here and competition for their business is fierce.
Chinese brand LDV, a division of the huge SAIC Motor conglomerate which is now the seventh largest automotive company in the world, recently joined this battle with its new Deliver 9 van range that’s priced to entice. We spent a week aboard one to see how LDV’s claim of superior value stacks up when there’s work to be done.
Given that Blue Tongue is a relative latecomer to the hybrid caravan market, it’s done its homework.
For $50,000, the HX15 is a great value, highly capable off-road camper with a comprehensive list of features to keep it self-contained and self-sufficient when you're camping.
That it includes an island bed, 2000-watt inverter, grey-water tank and enough battery capacity to free camp almost endlessly, is a testament to all that.
It has its flaws, like any vehicle, but it’s not as far away from segment leaders in terms of refinement and performance that its bargain-basement pricing might suggest. Whichever way you look at it, this is a lot of van for not a lot of money.