German manufacturer Hobby has been a stalwart of the European caravan and motorhome industry for 50 years. Mount Maunganui’s On The Way RV is delighted to have recently added several of the innovative company’s models to its roster.
Hobby's success
German manufacturer Hobby has been a stalwart of the European caravan and motorhome industry for 50 years. Mount Maunganui’s On The Way RV is delighted to have recently added several of the innovative company’s models to its roster. Hobby has just celebrated the 50th anniversary of production at its Fockbek factory in northern Germany. The company has enjoyed success almost from its very beginnings. By 1972, just five years after the company was founded, its 5000th caravan rolled down the production line. Started by Harald Striewski, the manufacturer is a mainstay of the German caravan and motorhome industry and remains a family business; Harald’s son Michael become managing director in 2015. Hobby can even count a couple of firsts among its development as a manufacturer, including the transportable toilet cassette and innovative caravan reversing mechanisms. In the mid-1980s, the integrated Hobby 600 model won the ‘Motorhome of the Year’ title no less than 12 times and this classic camper still has a following in Europe 30 years on. Today, Hobby is the largest caravan manufacturer in the world, with around 1100 factory employees and 600 dealers in Europe alone. The brand is distributed further afield too, even in territories you might not expect, such as Chile, China, and Sri Lanka. Down here in our neck of the woods, I recently caught up with Mal and Alisha Brady at On The Way RV in Mount Maunganui, who hold Hobby distribution rights for the North Island. Understandably, the On The Way RV team is delighted to have Hobby in the fold. They’ve plenty of models on order, but for now, were keen to show MCD readers two models from different sides of Hobby’s ledger: the clever two-berth Vantana K60 van and the sumptuous Premium 660WFU twin-axle caravan.The Vantana K60

Kitchenette

Bathroom
But the innovations don’t end there. The Vantana K60 also features a novel sliding toilet. Don’t worry, it won’t slide around while you’re on it. But when you’re using the washroom to shower or brush your teeth and you’d like more standing room, the toilet slides out of the way underneath an overhang. It’s another simple but effective innovation from a company with 50 years practice in getting the details right.Folding bed

The Premum 660WFU
Mal Brady sums up the exterior look of the 8865mm-long Hobby Premium 660WFU caravan when he describes it as being “like a European Airstream caravan”. I can’t argue with that; it really does and, as a result, it seems to exhibit the same retro opulence of the original. Obviously though, inside and out, things have moved on a little from the caravan whose classic lines it appears to emulate. Although, in saying that, the use of chrome detailing inside adds a touch of nostalgia in a fashion-forward sort of way.Seating

Kitchenette

Bed and bathroom

The verdict on Hobby
