Blog

Our SmartRV sales centres in Auckland and Christchurch will be closed on Easter Friday, Sunday and Monday.

If you’d like to view our motorhomes this Easter weekend, please come and visit the team this Saturday 31 March between 9 and 3pm, or we'll be back to business as usual from Tuesday 3 April.

Have a happy Easter and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Visit our ‘contact us’ page for more details on our locations and normal opening hours.

We can all picture it. A classic VW Kombi van parked up by an idyllic New Zealand beach, a long haired surfer untying his surfboard from the roof and heading into the water to catch the first waves of the day. That’s surely one of the most iconic Kiwiana images around. But while that VW camper has been a familiar sight for a long time, most other German motorhomes have only arrived on New Zealand shores in the last decade or so.

Locally manufactured motorhomes have dominated the New Zealand market since motorhoming became a thing after WWII. 

While a limited range of motorhomes were imported from Australia and the UK in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it wasn’t until around 2010 that the growing popularity of touring by motorhome prompted Kiwis to look to European alternatives.

The German motorhome industry’s reputation for quality, reliability, efficiency and innovation is globally unparalleled – just as it is for its world leading car brands. The country’s leading R&D infrastructure, end-to-end value-chain integration and highly skilled workforce together create an undefeatable international automotive domain. That’s why German motorhomes have quickly become highly sought after in New Zealand.

In the article about the difference between German and New Zealand made motorhomes, we looked at some of the key factors that separate those made in Germany and those made locally. In this article, we will give you an overview of the German motorhome brands available at New Zealand dealerships and the parts of the market that they target.

When the CEO of German motorhome brand Bürstner visited New Zealand for the first time earlier this year, a motorhome trip was high on the agenda. And for Jens Kromer and his wife Virginie, it was also a chance to catch up with 19-year-old daughter Eva, who has been living in New Zealand since last July and working at Wilderness Motorhomes in Auckland.

Bürstner motorhomes make up the majority of the premium fleet at Wilderness Motorhomes, and are renowned for their innovative features and clever designs. It was only natural that the Kromers would embark on their New Zealand adventure behind the wheel of a Bürstner.

The Kromers arrived in February, escaping a chilly German winter, with Eva’s grandmother and a family friend. With everything packed into two Wilderness motorhomes, the Lyseo T690G and the Ixeo Time IT726G, they set off on a trip that would stretch as far north as Cape Reinga, across to the Coromandel Peninsula, down to Taupo and back up to Auckland.

Our SmartRV Auckland sales centre will be relocating to the Covi SuperShow at the ASB Showgrounds from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 March 2018. As a consequence, we will not have any motorhomes available to view at the Auckland sales centre from Wednesday 14 to Sunday 18 March as they will be moving to our show display for this time. Our apologies for any inconvenience.

If you’d like to see our team and our motorhomes for sale then do come and visit the SmartRV pavilion at the show, which runs from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 March 2018. We’ll have 25 new and used motorhomes on display from our portfolio of Bürstner, Carado and HYMER, along with some very special pricing.

If you’re unable to come to the Covi SuperShow, we will be back in business as usual at our SmartRV Auckland sales centre from Monday 19 March. You can pop in, or call 0800 007 627 to arrange a time that suits you to come in and chat to one of the team. We look forward to seeing you soon.

The experts at iMotorhome have reviewed one of our popular ex-rental Bürstner motorhomes – the Nexxo T685, currently available as a used motorhome for sale at Wilderness. Writer Malcolm Street was impressed with how well this German-built motorhome has handled some 150,000 km during its time at our sister company Wilderness Motorhome Rentals and finds it offers excellent performance on the road.

The careful attention to detail and complexity of design decisions are what struck Wilderness' Marcel Peifer most during his recent internship with motorhome manufacturer HYMER in Germany, as the company prepares its new 2019 range of vehicles.

The Eriba Touring Triton 420 offers the quintessential simplicity of days past — with slick new improvements according to Motorhomes, Caravans & Destinations magazine reviewer Bill Savidan.

Motorhome buyers wanting a stylish look at an affordable price will want to keep an eye out for the new fully integrated (A class) model from Carado. Carado is the European-manufactured entry level motorhome brand from German company Erwin Hymer Group, distributed exclusively by SmartRV in New Zealand, alongside Bürstner and HYMER.

Relaxed, spacious living and stylish interiors are part of the innovative new motorhome design from German brand Bürstner, unveiled at the recent Caravan Salon show in Germany and soon to be available in New Zealand through SmartRV.

Bürstner has dubbed the new design ‘Wohnfühlen’, which translates as ‘well-being’ or ‘comfortable living’. It echoes the Danish concept of ‘hygge’, a trend that is having huge influence on lifestyle and interiors around the world.

Apart from their choice of vehicles, there is no ‘typical’ Wilderness owner. Our people (or the Wilderness Family as we like to call them) come from all walks of life and they are each at different ages and stages of their journeys.

Wilderness Motorhomes has received a Gold Sustainable Tourism Business Award and a Qualmark Endorsement.

The sister company to SmartRV runs a fleet of premium European rental motorhomes, operating out of the same premises as SmartRV in Auckland and Christchurch. Wilderness received the awards under new guidelines established by Qualmark, New Zealand tourism’s official quality assurance organisation, last October.