"When the first rays of the morning sun shine on my face through the car window, I lazily get up to make a coffee, set up an outdoor chair in the awning of the RV, and then quietly look at the green eyes, at that moment I will be very satisfied, and I can go back to the car and lie down again when I am tired." During the eleventh day, Xu Hai (pseudonym), a senior outdoor enthusiast, recalled to a reporter from China Business Daily.
"I used to go to the surrounding areas of Shanghai every weekend to hike and ride bicycles, but after my knee injury, I traveled more by car. I have a friend who has an RV, so I have the opportunity to travel with the RV during the holidays."
The reporter learned that, like Xu Hai, more and more people have had RV travel experience in recent years. On social platforms, search for keywords such as RV and self-driving, and you will see many travel bloggers sharing videos of RV travel and life, and the attention is not low.
The high-frequency word that appears with RVs is "camping". With the increasing attention of the outside world to the niche and exquisite outdoor tourism of "RV + camping", domestic RV sales have also increased significantly in recent years. Relevant data show that in 2023, the cumulative sales of RVs in China will be 14,365, a year-on-year increase of 22.41%, and the comprehensive ownership of RVs in the country will reach about 213,400.
Zhang Xiang, a researcher at the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology, told reporters that the domestic RV market is still in its infancy, because the number of domestic RVs at this stage is still very low compared with Europe, America, Japan and South Korea and other countries. "Although the development of domestic RVs started late, the market prospects are still broad. In terms of the general direction, the state has introduced multiple favorable policies. ”
"For example, the "Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Service Consumption" issued by the State Council some time ago mentioned that the development of new business formats such as cruise yachts, RV camping, and low-altitude flights should be encouraged." Zhang Xiang said, "With the rapid recovery of the cultural tourism industry in the past two years, the combination of 'RV + camping' can not only provide a comfortable accommodation environment, but also feel the fun of camping, and the development is very rapid." ”
The market size is growing rapidly
The increase in the popularity of the domestic RV market is inseparable from the rapid development of the camping economy. As a leisure activity that combines self-driving travel and outdoor life, RV camping has attracted much attention from the outside world in recent years, and more and more people will choose RV camping during their vacations.
RV campsites are built for RV users, providing them with vehicle supplies and places for people to rest. According to the data of Zhiyan Consulting, the market size of the mainland RV campground industry has shown a significant fluctuating growth trend in recent years.
Specifically, the market size of the mainland RV camping industry grew rapidly from 511 million yuan in 2015 to 3.669 billion yuan in 2018, and then fell slightly to 3.619 billion yuan in 2019. In 2020, the market size plummeted to 1.832 billion yuan under the background of the epidemic, and then rebounded to 3.965 billion yuan in 2021, showing the strong resilience of the industry. As of 2022, the market size is stable at 3.713 billion yuan, although it is slightly lower than the previous year, but the overall trend is still positive.
In the context of the industry's improvement, car companies that have deployed RV business have also achieved good results. SAIC Maxus as an example, it ranks first in the ranking of domestic RV manufacturers, with more than 50 RV products in four series: Life Home, Traveler, Explorer and RVLIFE, covering all categories such as Type B, Type C, pickup RV, heavy truck RV, camp trailer, off-road trailer and so on.
This year, SAIC Maxus also took the lead in becoming China's first enterprise with a scale of 10,000 RVs. The relevant person in charge of SAIC Maxus told reporters that the company has become the RV brand with the "most complete product matrix" in the industry, and has ranked first in China's RV market share for many years, with a compound annual growth rate of 33.4%, exceeding the industry growth rate by 50%, becoming the fastest growing RV company.
In addition to deeply cultivating the domestic market, SAIC MAXUS is also accelerating the layout of overseas markets. The above-mentioned person in charge told reporters that from the perspective of going overseas, SAIC Maxus RV landed in the developed Australian and New Zealand market as early as 2019 and became the "earliest Chinese RV brand in export".
Regarding the changes in consumers' preferences for RVs, the person in charge of the RV Life Home brand said that in recent years, consumers' preferences for RVs have gradually shifted from basic functional needs to more attention to comfort, safety and intelligent configuration.
The reporter noticed that due to the overall high price of RV landing, the RV rental market showed a strong demand trend. At present, the RV Life Home platform has more than 2,000 rental and operating RVs, accounting for about 70% of the domestic RV rental market.
It is worth noting that in the face of the growing market demand for RV rental, the person in charge of the RV life home brand told reporters that the company is also making layouts in multiple dimensions, including improving the national service network and actively absorbing shared RV resources. In addition, the company also attaches great importance to the promotion of RV travel culture, as well as cooperation and exchanges with upstream and downstream enterprises of RV.
Supporting facilities and services continue to improve
Although the domestic RV market has broad prospects, there are also many challenges at this stage, the first of which is that the basic supporting facilities have yet to be improved. "RV camping has a relatively low infrastructure and high fees, which is not conducive to the development of the RV market. On the other hand, some overseas countries with developed RV markets have relatively many RV camps and are free. Zhang Xiang said.
The reporter noted that in order to improve the experience of RV users, relevant companies are also introducing safeguard measures. The person in charge of the RV Life Home brand said that in order to improve the RV user experience, the company has taken a number of measures. "First and foremost, we are constantly updating and iterating on high-quality RV models to meet consumer needs for comfort, safety and family travel. Secondly, we have established a perfect after-sales service system, and at present, there are more than 600 cooperative after-sales service outlets for RV life, basically covering major cities across the country, and supporting 7x24-hour roadside assistance services. In addition, we configure a 1-to-1 RV travel guide to ensure that any problems encountered by users in the process of using the car can be solved in a timely and effective manner. We also provide users with a wealth of RV travel information and strategies through APP community channels and self-media channels such as Xiaohongshu and official accounts to help users better plan and enjoy RV travel. ”
Talking about the future development trend, Zhang Xiang believes that electric intelligence is definitely the general trend of RVs, but at present, the electric intelligence of the RV industry is relatively slow, and many RVs are still fuel-based. "Car companies with RV business need to pay close attention to the layout, because there are now many electric and intelligent large SUVs or MPVs on the market, which have done very well in the 'family travel' area."
RV companies are also accelerating the layout of electric intelligence. Taking SAIC Maxus as an example, the relevant person in charge of SAIC MAXUS told reporters: "In terms of intelligent and new energy RV, SAIC MAXUS RV has shown a forward-looking layout and significant advantages. ”
The reporter learned that in terms of RV intelligence, SAIC Maxus RV is equipped with advanced ADAS 2.0 system, including super cruise ICC (0-120km/h, to achieve automatic following in corners), LKA lane keeping assist, IHC automatic high and low beams, etc.
In addition, SAIC MAXUS RV has introduced the "RV Butler" intelligent interconnection system, which allows users to remotely control various facilities in the RV through voice control or mobile APP, such as locking the door, unlocking, checking the battery level, water volume of the clean water tank and gray water tank, etc.
In the face of competition in the industry, the relevant person in charge of SAIC MAXUS told reporters: "In the face of the intensification of competition in the RV market, continuous innovation, improvement of the service system, and expansion of market channels are all important ways for SAIC MAXUS to actively maintain its leading position in the market." ”
The development of new business formats such as RV camping has accelerated
With the increase in attention from the outside world, the development of RVs has also continued to usher in the blessing of favorable policies. In 2021, the "14th Five-Year Plan for Tourism Development" proposed to promote self-driving caravan tourism, implement the self-driving tour promotion plan, form a networked camp service system and a relatively complete self-driving caravan tourism industry chain, and launch a number of self-driving caravan camps and tourist stations.
In addition, the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of the Automobile Aftermarket" issued in 2023 mentions that it is necessary to support the construction of camps such as self-driving caravans, strengthen policy support, and promote the development of RV tourism consumption. In August this year, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Service Consumption", which stated that it would promote the integrated development of business, tourism, culture and sports, enhance the experiential and interactive nature of the project, launch various types of characteristic tourism products, and encourage the development of new business formats such as cruise yachts, RV camping, and low-altitude flights.
Regarding the positive impact of the introduction of favorable policies for RVs this year, the relevant person in charge of SAIC Maxus told reporters: "The policy of the State Council clearly encourages the development of new business formats such as RV camping, which provides a strong policy guarantee and market orientation for the RV market. ”
The person in charge said that under the policy guarantee, with the growing demand of consumers for personalized and diversified travel experience, RV camping, as a new way of life integrating travel, leisure and entertainment, is gradually becoming the new favorite of the tourism market.
It is worth noting that although the prospects for RV development are broad, the process is tortuous. In the first half of this year, RV sales suffered. According to public data, from January to June 2024, in addition to the year-on-year increase in sales in January, the year-on-year decline in sales from February to June decreased for five consecutive months. As of June 2024, a total of 5,945 self-propelled RVs were sold in China, down 22.85% from the same period in 2023 (7,706 units).
The person in charge of SAIC Maxus told reporters: "The consumption environment, the diversity of market demand, the improvement of industry standards and regulations, consumer awareness, market competition and involution are all factors that change in the RV market. At present, consumers in the RV market are increasingly pursuing high-quality and personalized travel experiences, focusing on RV performance and configuration, especially intelligent, automated facilities and green environmental protection materials. In particular, the rise of young people and retirees has led to the diversification of the RV market. ”
"With the improvement of people's living standards and the change of tourism concepts, RVs, as a personalized and liberal tourism lifestyle, will be more and more favored by consumers." "We will continue to improve the RV rental business, expand the fleet size, and improve the quality of service. At the same time, we have expanded RV sales, camp construction, travel product development and other related businesses to form a complete RV industry chain, and continue to improve the services that can be provided by the one-stop platform for RV life. We will also strengthen cooperation and exchanges with domestic and foreign RV companies to jointly promote the prosperity and development of the RV market. ”
Editor: Quartz Jing Review: Tong Haihua Proofreader: Liu Jun
