While the policy norms are expected in a few months, Basecamp, an adventure tourism company, hopes to leverage interest in caravans.
Corporates exploring the marketability of adventure-travel-stay via caravans may well get a shot in the arm. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is working on norms to make this kind of tourism more user-friendly. It is at an advanced stage of tying up the loose ends of the draft standards for caravans under the Central Motor Vehicles Act. A committee meeting, at which SIAM’s technical representatives will be on board, will be held later this month to finalise the draft. Thereafter, the proposed standards will be referred to the law ministry before receiving the final nod from the transport ministry.
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers has already recommended to the ministry the standards required for caravans. Vishnu Mathur, director general of SIAM, says the complete process from final approval to the notification on the standards and regulations could well take between three months and a year. The regulations will also lay down specs of the load-bearing capacity of the hitches for towing caravans. But regulations will have to be supported by necessary infrastructure.
Mathur says, “Parking spaces, restrooms and other amenities have to be provided as you cannot just leave the caravans on the roads.”
Awaiting clearance
While caravan holidays are relatively unknown here, they are popular in Australia, Europe or in the Americas. In Asia, there is a big market in Japan. U D Bhargava, director-road transport, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, says caravans are clubbed under the trailer category and along with the prime mover are categorised under articulated vehicles.
Elaborating on it, Anil Chhikara, the Motor Licensing Officer of the Delhi transport department, says the registration application of the caravan as a trailer has to be added on the registration of the prime mover after applying to the RTO with the towing vehicle’s registration number affixed on the caravan. For clarity on taxes and registration, he suggests caravan owners refer to the transport commissioner.
While an SUV or a 1500cc engined vehicle can be the prime mover for the caravans, in case the user is keen to hitch the caravan to a number of SUVs alternately or if more than one caravan is to be towed by a prime mover as is prevalent in Australia, an application for multiple use will have to be entered on the application for registration of the caravan. Further, speed permits stipulating a maximum speed of 40kph will have to be affixed on the vehicle as it is not fitted with a brake compared to a truck trailer.
Growth potential
Interestingly, while the road transport department is yet to make known its clear stand on caravans, the ministry of tourism is keen to promote caravaning. It has laid down a caravan policy spanning recreational vehicles, campervans and motor homes that seeks to incentivise development of caravan parks in the public and private sector as well as through public-private partnership.
Broad specs for the parks include a minimum 0.5 acre with at least five parking bays with a density of not more than 60 parking bays per hectare and a gap of five metres between caravans. The parks will provide proper sewage disposal facilities as also rainwater harvesting.
Recently, Basecamp, that is into the distribution of travel equipment, Swiss army knives and outdoor sports accessories since 2003, rolled out its caravan business through a tie-up with leading European caravan majors like Hymer and Dethleffs (a Hymer Holding Group company) besides partnering with AutoHome for car roof-top tents. At present, the caravan market is pegged at around 30,000 pieces per annum in Europe, with around 45 percent share estimated to be held by Hymer.
Anish Goel, managing director, Basecamp, says: “Five years ago, we decided to take the business to the next level. Though today we have a dealership agreement, talks are on with Hymer to convert it into a joint venture that can assemble caravans in India and later look at manufacturing, as volumes shore up.”
At present, the caravans are imported as CBUs. For Hymer and Dethleffs, both India and China are very new markets and caravans are a relatively new concept in both countries.
Though Goel says the company did not undertake any prior research on the vehicle prospects in India, it has sold three caravans. Deliveries will commence within 45-90 days after shipments arrive. However, enquiries have begun to flow in mainly from Bollywood stars for use as vanity vans and even from some politicians.
A challenge though is displaying the caravan at city outlets as ceilings need to be around 15-20 feet in height. Basecamp is looking for a display outlet in Mumbai to woo business from the film fraternity. In Delhi, the company has tied up with Bharat Petroleum Corp to park the caravans at BPCL’s highway petrol bunks.
Hence, those keen on outings to Jaipur or Agra from Delhi can make overnight halts at the BPCL bunks. BPCL will levy a charge on an hourly basis for these stopovers, for which negotiations are still underway.
Meanwhile, more state tourism tie-ups are on the anvil including Haryana Tourism and IndianOil, and the tourist departments of Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. These states offer Yatri Niwas facilities where caravans can halt on the highways.
Basecamp has also sent feelers to OEMs for equipping their vehicles with towing devices. In Europe, cars typically have a provision for sockets where an electrical wire can be plugged in but cars made here don’t come with this option. But work on it can be done in the aftermarket which involves removing the electrical mechanism in the tail-light or back indicator light of the prime mover and attaching it to the caravan’s light. The hitch has to be then attached to the mover’s chassis, depending on its strength. But this retro-fitting job can cost up to Rs 60,000.
Basecamp currently markets two caravan models in India with the Dethleffs model priced at Rs 16 lakh and the Hymer, Rs 22 lakh plus taxes. But once it assembles them in India, it hopes to tweak the models for India. More light-weight, cost-effective models with a flat top to facilitate proper air-conditioning, customised wiring and TV facilities are expected to be built for India as European caravans are more egg-shaped and fitted with heating ducts and television satellites are customised for those markets. The issue of generators is being streamlined from an Italian company wherein silent generators will work on LPG and not diesel or petrol.
In terms of servicing and spare parts, Basecamp is still on a learning curve. It has called for manuals on the subject and also sent a staffer for training to Germany. Goel says servicing will relate to air-conditioning, breakdown in refrigerators, choked bathrooms or other electrical work. Basecamp will arrange for these services as it has a blueprint of the vehicles. A workshop has also been set up at Manesar to handle spare parts supply.
The company hopes to sell 600 caravans in the first year of operations and is targeting a revenue of around Rs 100 crore once it achieves this number.
SHOBHA MATHUR