Advertisement feature from Adria


Leisure boom puts Adria on the road to expansion

With five decades of experience making leisure vehicles, Adria is seeking caravan, van conversion and motorhome dealers to add to its network 


The leisure vehicle market is unique. The lifestyle choices offered by its products are as diverse as the range of vehicles available. One consistent factor that remains within its target consumer group is that ‘people enjoy leisure time’.
The growth in leisure sales outlets has influenced a revival in the UK holiday industry. Manufacturers constantly evolve products to suit the needs of a modern and active lifestyle. This is great news for the future of the industry, retaining existing customers and attracting new customers and forward-thinking retailers to the marketplace.
Global enthusiasm for recreational  0vehicle touring is continuous. World markets including China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Australia and New Zealand are among many expanding distribution networks for leisure vehicles. This is great news for manufacturers and the related industries that support many thousands of jobs across Europe.
The future looks healthy.

Adria: half a century of excellence
Adria is Europe’s third-largest leisure vehicle manufacturer, producing more than 9,000 units annually, which are distributed to more than 20 countries worldwide. It is the market leader for motorhomes in Finland and second in Germany in an extremely competitive market of domestic producers. Adria is the market leader for caravans in Spain and Denmark.
All Adria vehicles are designed and produced at its state-of-the-art, purpose-built factory in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, in the heart of Europe. A highly skilled and experienced workforce produces vehicles of the highest quality, durability and reliability via ISO 9001:2000-registered  processes and the World Class Manufacturing (WCM) philosophy.
Manufacturing in a small domestic market means Adria exports 99% of the vehicles it produces, making it very experienced in providing products that are perfectly suited to vastly differing individual markets. These factors mean Adria produces vehicles perfectly suited to the British consumer, with industry-leading innovation and European build quality, for which it regularly receives awards.
Adria is the only manufacturer importing leisure vehicles to Great Britain that belongs to the domestic industry trade body, the National Caravan Council, and has all vehicles sold in Great Britain approved to their standards. All models in Adria’s British range are specifically designed and specified for British customer usage.
This season, Adria is celebrating its 50th anniversary of producing leisure vehicles and its 40th anniversary of continuous distribution to Great Britain, supported via a UK-based distribution office that provides all dealer support. In today’s turbulent world, it’s nice to know you can place your trust in a brand that has been at the forefront of caravan and motorhome development since the early 1960s.

A new franchise opportunity
Adria has a strong core of long-established dealers, who provide a stabile retail distribution of leisure vehicles and aftersales support to their customers.
To enable Adria to reach its short-term goals and long-term strategy of increasing UK market share, it is investing heavily in expanding this dealer network. It is actively seeking selected appointments of new dealerships that share in its vision and core beliefs.
This is a unique opportunity for a new franchise, which would not conflict with your current offerings and sales volumes. It would provide additional sales with significantly higher margins to your existing customer base in a larger territory. There would be minimal start-up costs and investment required and the process is simple – you already have the facilities to provide an appropriate environment and the expertise to provide the required sales and aftersales experience.
Stocking funding is provided by industry-recognised finance houses Black Horse and GE Capital Bank. Many of you will already have accounts with these providers and demonstrator units can be supplied on these funding lines with an extremely generous period of up to 360 interest-free days.
As well as the sale of vehicles, the fitment of dealer-sourced and dealer-installed accessories is also extremely profitable, with the majority of vehicles having thousands of pounds worth of items fitted, including electrically operated awnings, air conditioning units, reverse driving cameras and entertainment systems.
The servicing of leisure vehicles also retains substantial margins and Adria offers industry-leading labour remuneration rates.

Geoff Cox case study:
Geoff Cox is a second-generation, family-run independent car dealership established in 1967. It chose motorhomes as an additional product to complement its family retail car business based in the East Midlands. In 2004, its car trade was stagnating, quality cars were getting increasingly difficult to source (before the emergence of the internet) and new car franchises were unattainable at the time.
Managing director Neil Cox says: “The dynamics of the motor industry have changed.
“What made us successful in the past is not necessarily going to make us competitive in the future. In 2007, we invested in a new showroom and workshop and were looking for a new opportunity that would complement our core business and provide a reasonable return on investment.
“Following a visit to a national motorhome exhibition we had several discussions with motorhome manufacturers.
“The Adria brand was chosen for its quality build and UK market appeal and we were pleased to have been awarded 2013 UK Dealer of the Year. Partnerships with the motorhome manufacturers have all been surprisingly straightforward to negotiate and good business relationships have been formed.
“After a few meetings, we were up and running. Funding was provided by Black Horse Finance and we received our first demonstrator vehicle. The manufacturer provided product training, industry knowledge and aftersales support. We were given the flexibility and the resources to market the products and to deal with enquiries.
“Extra revenue comes from resultant aftersales and a leisure division has been formed providing full dealership service. Our car sales division has benefitted from the extra attraction of the motorhomes and caravans on display and the forecourt presents an interesting selection of vehicles for customers to view.
“We have a simple philosophy – manufacturers manufacturer and dealers deal.”


To find out more, contact Peter Dabell, Sales Manager, via peter.dabell@adria.co.uk or 07590 808439,  or visit www.adria.co.uk