Monthly Archives: March 2016

Calais – an ongoing problem.

31 Thursday Mar 2016

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The past 24 hours have seen a further serious breakdown in law and order at Calais as approximately 150 migrants, some armed with iron bars, attempted to board UK-bound trucks heading towards the Eurotunnel and resulted in the tragic death of a migrant as a result of being hit by an heavy goods vehicle.

It appears that this latest incident was caused by the impact of what was happening locally as part of a national strike which caused HGVs to back up in an unprotected area and made them more vulnerable to attack.

Commenting, Road Haulage Association chief executive Richard Burnett said: “We are saddened by the news that a migrant was killed but we have two questions to ask of the authorities in France.

“First, given that the queues of lorries in an unprotected area was a predictable consequence of the strike, why were measures not put in place to provide adequate security for drivers in the Calais area?

“Second, can we have firm assurance that drivers will not go unprotected when there is such a clear risk in future?

“Calais Region President Xavier Bertrand has worked hard to start to restore security and confidence in the Calais route, including the clearance of the unregulated part of the migrant camp. The events of the past 24 hours are a serious setback to those efforts and must not be allowed to be repeated.”

Road Haulage Association @RHANews

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Three millionth Sprinter goes to Hymer.

17 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by in Marketing, Motorhomes

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Three millionth Mercedes-Benz Sprinter goes to motorhome manufacturer Hymer

 Volker Mornhinweg, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans (left) and Benrhard Kibler MD of Hymer (right)

 The latest Sprinter goes to Hymer to be turned into an ML-T

Mercedes-Benz Vans has celebrated a milestone with the Sprinter, used for a number of motorhome conversions. Since its market launch in 1995, the division has delivered three million units of its world vehicle to customers with 2015 being the most successful year for Sprinter in its history. In the year of its 20th birthday, sales of the Sprinter rose by 4% to 194,200 vehicles. Mercedes-Benz Vans is expecting further overall growth in demand in 2016.

Volker Mornhinweg, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, handed over the three millionth Sprinter to Bernhard Kibler, Managing Director of motorhome manufacturer Hyme. Hymer, a bodybuilder partner to Mercedes-Benz Vans, intends to turn the anniversary vehicle into one of its premium-segment Hymer ML-T motorhomes.

“Three million Sprinters in just 20 years is a sign of great success,” said Volker Mornhinweg. “The Sprinter was the founder of the segment for large vans and remains highly successful to this day – throughout the world. The Sprinter with its six production plants worldwide is a shining example of our growth strategy ‘Mercedes-Benz Vans goes global’. What’s more, for our partners the Sprinter provides the perfect base for a wide and varied range of bodies, from ambulances to luxury motorhomes.”

Mercedes-Benz Vans has developed along highly positive lines in recent years in the growing camper van sector. This year, too, the division’s global sales and market share are continuing to rise in this area. Growth of over 10% was recorded in the German market alone in 2015, amounting to sales of some 28,000 units – and it continues to offer potential. Specialist bodybuilders play a central role in this segment for Mercedes-Benz Vans, covering as they do a wide spectrum of customer demand – for additional variants of campervans, for example.

An important bodybuilder for Mercedes-Benz Vans is the motorhome manufacturer Hymer, based in Bad Waldsee in Baden-Württemberg. The company, which was founded in 1957, is the European market leader in the premium segment.. Hymer is an official ‘VanPartner by Mercedes-Benz’. This means that the company belongs to the exclusive circle of bodybuilders that Mercedes-Benz Vans audits and certifies as meeting its high standards in respect of quality, sales and after-sales. Hymer has relied on the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter as the base vehicle for its premium-segment motorhomes since 1995. The collaboration between the two companies goes back more than 40 years now: the first Hymermobil was based on a Mercedes-Benz van.

“Mercedes-Benz Vans is a strategically important partner for us. The vans with the star are acknowledged to be among the safest in their class. The Sprinter, in particular, offers an extensive range of safety equipment, with its various driver assistance systems such as standard-specification Crosswind Assist, which is unique in our sector. Combined with our bodybuilding technology and premium-class equipment and fittings, we can offer the customer a camper van that is uncompromising in its operating safety and living comfort. We are delighted that our longstanding partner is handing over the three millionth Sprinter to us. We offer our sincere congratulations to Mercedes-Benz Vans on this significant anniversary and look forward to continuing our excellent collaboration,” said Bernhard Kibler. “Our customers can look forward to a few surprises this year, too.”

The Hymer ML-T, for which the three millionth Sprinter is to serve as the basic vehicle, is the first partially integrated motorhome to be equipped with the innovative Crosswind Assist system from Mercedes-Benz Vans.

As I own a Sprinter myself…..

  
Christopher Macgowan

@motorhomenews

Morris Leisure Llanberis opens this weekend.

06 Sunday Mar 2016

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Morris Leisure opened their sixth touring site this weekend – this latest addition at Llanberis, North Wales. Faye and I are lucky enough to be among the first visitors and very impressive it is too. 

Not large, just fifty four pitches of which thirty five are hard standing and all of the remainder are hard standing super pitches. As you expect from Morris, everything is to the highest standard with excellent landscaping and maintaining the all important rural feel. There is just one building which accommodates reception, a loo block, a laundry and a washing up area. There is accommodation for two pairs of wardens with a facilities pod for their private use in their own secure compound. A dog walk surrounds the site. WiFi, TV points, CCTV, security barriers, electronic key fob entrance and exit, a motorhome service point and a very friendly welcome complete the package.

This is a walker’s dream site being inside the Snowdonia National Park and is just a five minute stroll from the village itself which is an important consideration to the motorhome fraternity.

The site has an interesting history as round the corner in a former slate quarry is the amazing Dinorwic power station. In essence – over night – water is pumped to the top and during daylight hours when electricity is needed, that same water powers turbines to generate electricity. A secondary use is to help kick start the national grid in the event of a big failure. It took ten years to build, started in 1974, cost about £5oo million and is an amazing civil engineering achievement as it is all inside the mountain (now renamed Electric Mountain) and largely invisible. Technology has in some part subsequently eclipsed the project because with the arrival of renewables, electricity storage is not the hot topic it once was – and indeed a second project on Exmoor never went ahead. Despite this, a secondary and much smaller water storage facility is underway locally.

Why mention all this? For years there has been a construction workers temporary “village” on the edge of Llanberis and this is now the Morris Leisure Llanberis site.

It’s a great site in a super setting. 

http://www.morris-leisure.co.uk

Christopher Macgowan

@motorhomenews