Q1 2026 RV Market Brand Consideration Report

In Q1 2026, the caravan market became more top-heavy, with Jayco extending its lead while much of the real movement happened underneath it. Opus Camper pushed harder into the imported segment, Lifestyle Campers and Patriot Campers strengthened in the local market, and the discontinued table spread out sharply as Zone RV gave back an exceptional Q4 2025 spike.

Overall, the negative worldwide events experienced particularly over the first quarter of 2026 are reportedly taking their toll on overall RV sales and touring. However, enquiry and research results remain quite strong, indicating customer intent when the world events stabilise.

Fuel prices and availability, plus inflation, have certainly taken a toll on touring efforts; however, our findings suggest Australian caravan and RV shoppers have little intention of giving up their adventures. In many cases, fuel prices have been dropping, and availability is still relatively stable, allowing greater market confidence.

Read on for our full category breakdown and the brand movements that mattered most in Q1 2026.

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A Note on Methodology

This report was produced using a range of keyword research tools to assess search volume across Australia for Q1 2026. Our dataset included 137 RV brands, approximately 11,000 relevant keywords, and more than 2.5 million searches across the quarter. Brand performance has been analysed across five categories: All Brands, Australian-made, Imported, Discontinued, and RVMAP Members.

A Note From Our Researchers

Please note that our keyword lists and data sourcing methods are continuously evolving as we work to enhance the accuracy and depth of our search volume reporting. All data is refreshed with each quarterly report, so figures within any given edition reflect the most current available snapshot. As such, some metrics may shift quarter-over-quarter as these refinements are applied.

Jayco Widens Its Lead While Imported Challengers and Legacy Brands Reshuffle

Q1 2026 arrived in a market shaped by more than just seasonal rhythms. The drop in search volume is broadly consistent with historical patterns, but the quarter also unfolded against rising fuel costs and disrupted shipping routes. The ACCC confirmed average retail diesel prices reached 185.9 cents per litre across the five largest cities in Q4 2025, with international crude oil prices rising sharply again into this quarter as the Middle East conflict affected global supply.

Regional caravan parks reported Easter cancellations, and the Caravan Industry Association of Australia flagged the conflict as directly affecting operations for some businesses across the sector.

Against that backdrop, the relative strength of the Australian-made segment is worth noting. Local brands showed broader gains across more names than the imported category, where the top two both softened while Opus Camper absorbed much of the available movement. When shipping timelines extend and landed costs rise, locally built products tend to become a more visible part of the buying conversation. It’s worth noting while the data does not prove a direct causal link, the pattern is coherent enough to keep an eye on.

Taken together, the first quarter of 2026 shows two parallel market forces at work. At the front, Jayco extended its leadership in both the overall and Australian-made segments, reinforcing a very concentrated top end. Underneath it, brands including Opus Camper, Lifestyle Campers, and Patriot Campers built share steadily across multiple quarters, pointing to a market that is not being overturned but becoming more competitive beneath the surface.
For brands and dealers, the data reinforces a straightforward principle. Consideration share is not static, and in a market as active as Australia’s RV sector, the difference between a brand at 1.5% and one at 3.5% is rarely accidental.

Top 20 Most-Searched: All Brands

Jayco strengthened its hold on the market in Q1, rising from 22.6% in Q4 2025 to 23.6%. That result left the leader well clear of the field and reinforced just how concentrated top-end consideration remains. This gain also snaps a multi-quarter drift that had seen Jayco slide from 24.2% in Q2 last year, suggesting the brand’s baseline demand is reasserting itself as the market stabilises. Across the entire dataset, Jayco’s share is larger than the next four brands combined.

Market Direct held second on 4.3%, and Snowy River Caravans stayed third on 4.0%, so the most meaningful movement inside the top tier came from below them rather than around them. Both brands have now held their positions for two consecutive quarters, pointing to an increasingly settled top three.

Opus Camper delivered the standout gain, climbing from 2.8% to 3.5%, moving into fourth. That 25% relative increase follows gains in every quarter since Q2 2025, when the brand sat at just 2.1%. Over four quarters, Opus has nearly doubled its share of search, a trajectory that puts consistent pressure on the brands immediately ahead of it.

Austrack also lifted from 3.0% to 3.2%, while Ezytrail recovered from 2.8% to 3.0%. Ezytrail’s recovery is worth noting, given it spent much of 2025 trending softly; Q1 may mark a stabilisation rather than a reversal, but it is the first clear uptick in several quarters.

In contrast, Crusader Caravans eased from 3.5% to 2.8%, giving back much of its late 2025 rise. Crusader’s Q4 2025 result was its strongest in the dataset, so the pullback looks more like a reversion to its previous performance than a structural decline.

Lifestyle Campers moved the other way, stepping up from 2.2% to 2.8% and drawing level with Crusader. It has now returned to its Q2 levels after a dip through the middle of the year, and the recovery looks more durable given it arrived without the benefit of any single external event. Avan edged from 2.2% to 2.3%, and Avida stayed flat at 2.0%, both consistent with their year-long pattern of low-variation, mid-table stability.

Rest of the Top 20

Outside the top 10, the market remained comparatively fragmented. Winnebago lifted from 1.8% in Q4 2025 to 1.9% in Q1 2026, while JB Caravans eased from 1.8% to 1.7% and Lotus Caravans slipped from 1.7% to 1.6%. Cub Campers moved from 1.5% to 1.6%, Stoney Creek Campers held at 1.6%, and New Age Caravans was also steady at 1.6%.

The tight clustering of six brands between 1.4% and 1.9% underlines how interchangeable the lower half of the top 20 is quarter to quarter. A gain of 0.2 points can lift a brand three places; losing the same amount drops it just as far.

The biggest reset in the lower half came from Zone RV, which dropped sharply from 4.6% last quarter to 1.6% this quarter. The Q4 figure appears driven by search interest tied to the brand’s voluntary administration, with this quarter’s numbers more representative of where Zone RV sits as a discontinued brand. At 1.6%, it lands in the same range as Cub Campers and Stoney Creek, which gives a more realistic picture of its legacy search footprint once crisis-related traffic fades.

Titanium Caravans held flat at 1.5%, while Patriot Campers rose from 1.2% to 1.5% and Mars Campers improved slightly from 1.3% to 1.4%. Patriot’s result continues a steady climb, gaining brand share in three of the last four quarters.

Notable Movers and Brands to Watch

The obvious winners were Jayco, Opus Camper, and Lifestyle Campers. Jayco’s move to 23.6% shows the market leader tightening its grip after a year of gradual softening, while Opus Camper’s rise to 3.5% reflects a multi-quarter trend that has been building since mid-2025 rather than a single spike.

Lifestyle Campers’ return to 2.8% is the more nuanced story, with its Q1 recovery suggesting the brand resonates with early-year buyers. Patriot Campers also deserves attention for lifting from 1.2% to 1.5%, continuing a patient but consistent upward run.

In contrast, Zone RV recorded the sharpest pullback, but Q1 2026 looks less like a collapse and more like a correction after unusually elevated Q4 2025 readings. Even so, that reversal reshaped the middle tier and created room for smaller gainers to move up.

Heading into Q2, Opus Camper is the name to watch. Four consecutive quarters of growth without a pullback is a rare pattern in this dataset, and at 3.5%, the brand is now close enough to the settled top three that another strong quarter could force a rethink of what the top tier looks like throughout the year.

Top 20 Most-Searched: Australian-Made

The Australian-made caravan ranking remained the most concentrated of all categories this quarter. Jayco strengthened its already commanding lead, rising from 30.6% in Q4 2025 to 32.5% in Q1 2026. That 1.9% gain is the largest among the leading Australian-made brands and underlines Jayco’s dominance in local manufacturing consideration. With these numbers, Jayco accounts for nearly one in three searches within the Australian-made segment in our dataset, a concentration that leaves very little room at the top for other domestic brands.

Behind Jayco, the order became more fluid. Crusader Caravans retained second place, and Lifestyle Campers closed in rapidly, climbing from 3.0% to 3.8% and finishing just 0.1 points behind Crusader.

Avan edged from 3.0% to 3.1%, and Avida moved from 2.7% to 2.8%. Both are incremental gains, but given the reduced overall search pool in Q1, even holding share in a quieter quarter reflects a degree of resilience.

Winnebago also improved, rising from 2.4% to 2.6%. JB Caravans slipped slightly from 2.4% to 2.3%, Lotus Caravans held at 2.3%, and Zone RV recorded the most dramatic reversal in the top 10, falling from 6.2% to 2.3%. Cub Campers rounded out the top 10 with a modest lift from 2.0% to 2.2%.

Rest of the Top 20

Further down, New Age Caravans rose from 2.1% to 2.2%, and Titanium Caravans improved from 2.0% to 2.1%. Patriot Campers stood out with a lift from 1.6% to 2.0%, one of the stronger gains in the middle of the category and a continuation of the brand’s gradual rise across multiple quarters.

Kokoda Caravans moved from 1.2% to 1.4%, On the Move Caravans rose from 0.9% to 1.2%, Essential Caravans improved from 1.0% to 1.1%, and Design RV lifted from 0.8% to 1.1%. These four brands all sit in what might be called the emerging tier of the Australian-made segment, too small to challenge the mid-range incumbents immediately, but consistently adding share to suggest growing buyer awareness.

On the Move and Design RV have each now posted gains in at least three of the last four quarters, a pattern that tends to precede a more meaningful ranking move. Coromal Caravans was flat at 1.6%, while Royal Flair Caravans and Windsor RVs both landed at 1.2%.

Notable Movers and Brands to Watch

Jayco was again the defining mover in the Australian-made segment, but the more competitive story sat just below it. Lifestyle Campers, Patriot Campers, Kokoda Caravans, On the Move Caravans, and Design RV all improved in Q1 2026, pointing to broader interest across a more diverse local manufacturing base. Lifestyle Campers’ rise to 3.8% was particularly important as it brought the brand within striking distance of second place.

The counterweight to that broader lift was the sharp pullback from Zone RV. The discontinued brand’s fall from 6.2% to 2.3% materially changed the shape of the category, redistributing attention heavily distorted by the administration story in Q4. With that distortion removed, the Australian-made segment looks much more competitive.

The brand to watch here is Lifestyle Campers. At 0.1 points behind Crusader, it sits closer to second place than at any point in the dataset. Whether that gap closes in Q2 will be one of the more competitive questions in the Australian-made category leading into the middle of the year.

Top 20 Most-Searched: Imported

The imported caravan ranking remained led by familiar names in Q1 2026, although the gap between the leaders and the next wave tightened. Market Direct (MDC) stayed in first place, but its share eased from 16.6% in Q4 2025 to 15.8% in Q1 2026, matching the level it held in Q2 2025.

Snowy River Caravans also softened slightly, slipping from 15.3% to 14.8%, but remained firmly in second. The combined share of the top two dropped from 31.9% to 30.6% across the quarter, which is a notable shift given that it represents ground transferred almost entirely to Opus Camper rather than the broader field.

The standout story in this segment was Opus Camper. Opus rose from 10.7% in Q4 2025 to 12.6% in Q1 2026, delivering the largest gain in the imported segment and moving much closer to the top two brands. That result also continues the most consistent upward trend in the entire imported dataset. Opus sat at 8.0% in Q2 2025, meaning it has added 4.6 percentage points across four consecutive quarters without a single pullback. At the current trajectory, a challenge to the top two is a realistic prospect within the next two to three reporting periods.

Austrack was broadly stable, inching from 11.7% to 11.8%, while Ezytrail held at 11.0%. The consistency of both brands in a lower-volume quarter is a sign of an established consideration base that does not fluctuate heavily with seasonal demand.

Stoney Creek Campers softened slightly from 6.0% to 5.8%, but Mars Campers improved from 5.0% to 5.3%. Fantasy Caravan eased from 3.8% to 3.6%, Jawa Campers recovered modestly from 2.7% to 2.8%, and Black Series slipped from 2.7% to 2.6%.

Rest of the Top 20

Below the top 10, most imported brands moved only marginally. Adria held at 2.2%, Kedron Caravans slipped from 2.0% to 1.8%, and Conqueror Camper lifted from 1.5% to 1.6%. Arctic Campers edged down from 1.6% to 1.5%, while Regent Caravan rose from 1.3% to 1.4%. Goldstar RV and Blue Tongue Campers both eased from 1.1% to 1.0%. Lumberjack Camper fell from 1.2% to 1.0%, while Signature Campers and Starvision both moved from 0.9% to 0.8%.

The lower half is notable for its compression, with fourteen brands sitting between 0.8% and 2.2%, and very little separating them. In a category where the top five hold roughly 65% of all search share, this cluster competes for the remaining 35% in a way that makes every half-point movement strategically significant.

Notable Movers and Brands to Watch

Opus Camper was the clear winner in imported caravans. Its jump to 12.6% gave the segment fresh momentum and created a more credible challenge to the leaders. Mars Campers, Jawa Campers, Conqueror Camper, and Regent Caravan also posted smaller improvements. The category leaders did not lose control, but both Market Direct and Snowy River Caravans were softer in Q1 2026 than in Q4 2025. That balance between mild softening at the top and a sharp rise from Opus Camper made imported caravans one of the livelier segments in these findings. Opus Camper is the standout brand to watch in Q2. If its trajectory holds, the imported top two could look quite different by mid-year. For brands sitting in the compressed mid-tier, Opus is also a useful reference point. The gap between 1.0% and 12.6% is not explained by product alone. It reflects what consistent buyer-facing visibility can do to search share over time.

Top 20 Most-Searched: Discontinued Brands

Discontinued brands produced the most dramatic quarter-on-quarter swings in the overall. Zone RV remained the clear number one name in Q1 2026, but its share fell sharply from 71.6% in Q4 2025 to 49.6%. While it remains a large number in absolute terms, the direction of travel is what matters here.

In Q2 and Q3 2025, Zone RV held around 50 to 51%, before spiking sharply in Q4 on the back of its administration. Q1 2026’s result is therefore less a recovery for the rest of the segment and more a return to the pre-spike norm. Even at 49.6%, Zone RV accounts for exactly half of all searches in this category, which underlines how dominant a recently collapsed brand can remain in consumer consciousness.

What changed most in Q1 2026 was the space available for other legacy brands to capture attention. Black Series jumped from 11.1% in Q4 2025 to 21.2% in Q1 2026, almost doubling its share and returning close to the levels it held through the first half of 2025. Lumberjack Camper also surged, moving from 4.9% to 8.4%, while Discovery RV rose from 4.1% to 7.2%. All three brands returning toward their pre-Q4 ranges suggests last quarter’s range was an anomaly driven by a single event rather than a genuine shift in discontinued brand interest.

Further, Sunbuster Caravans improved from 1.1% to 2.5%, Elite Caravans lifted from 1.3% to 2.4%, and Sunfinder increased from 1.1% to 1.6%. Highline Caravans moved from 1.2% to 1.5%, while Aura Caravans and Opal Caravans both doubled from 0.5% to 1.0%.

Rest of the Top 20

Moving down, several smaller discontinued brands also picked up share as Zone RV’s Q4 2025 spike normalised. Bushranger Campers rose from 0.4% to 0.8%, Spaceland Caravans moved from 0.4% to 0.7%, and Riptide Campers also improved from 0.4% to 0.7%. Vanguard Camper Trailers lifted from 0.0% to 0.3%, while West Coast Campers, and Viking Caravans and Campers each increased from 0.1% to 0.2%.

Tango Caravans was one of the few names in the lower half to fall, moving from 0.7% to 0.4%. Infinity Motorhomes also dropped from 0.3% to 0.1%, while Roma RV edged up from 0.0% to 0.1%. In total, Q1 2026 produced a far more distributed legacy-brand picture than Q4 2025.

Notable Movers and Brands to Watch

The biggest takeaway for discontinued brands was not simply that Zone RV fell. It was that attention redistributed quickly across a wider pool of legacy names once its extraordinary Q4 2025 reading unwound. Black Series, Lumberjack Camper, Discovery RV, Sunbuster Caravans, and Elite Caravans were the primary beneficiaries of the change.

That redistribution suggests buyers this quarter were not abandoning interest in discontinued brands altogether. Instead, they were spreading interest more broadly, which may reflect a wider search for used-market reference points, older product comparisons, or legacy brand equity beyond a single dominant name. For dealers with inventory across multiple discontinued or legacy lines, the breadth of that interest in Q1 is more commercially relevant than the Zone RV headline.

Looking ahead, the question for this segment is whether Zone RV’s share continues to normalise or stabilises around the 49 to 50% range it held before the Q4 spike. If it drifts lower, Black Series and Discovery RV are the most likely beneficiaries given the ground they recovered in Q1.

Top 20 Most-Searched: RVMAP Members

Among RVMAP members, the top of the ranking remained comparatively stable in Q1 2026. Market Direct (MDC) held first place with 10.6%, only slightly down from 10.8% in Q4 2025. Snowy River Caravans edged up from 9.9% to 10.0%, drawing almost level with MDC and reinforcing how tightly contested the top two positions have become in this accredited-brand cohort.

Crusader Caravans retained third place for the fourth consecutive quarter at 7.0%, continuing to hold a clear margin over fourth-placed Avan at 5.6%. The Q1 share reflects a normalisation from an exceptionally strong Q4 2025 peak of 8.7%, Crusader’s highest result across the full dataset period, and remains well above the brand’s Q2 and Q3 2025 figures of 6.2% and 7.4% respectively. Avan was broadly flat quarter on quarter, while Avida held steady at 5.0%.

Winnebago edged up from 4.5% to 4.6%, JB Caravans eased from 4.4% to 4.2%, and Lotus Caravans moved from 4.2% to 4.1%. Cub Campers improved from 3.7% to 3.9%, and Stoney Creek Campers held at 3.9%, rounding out a top 10 that was broadly stable throughout the quarter.

Rest of the Top 20

In the lower RVMAP group, Patriot Campers delivered one of the strongest gains in the category, rising from 2.9% in Q4 2025 to 3.6% in Q1 2026. The 0.7-point move is the largest gain in the bottom half of the RVMAP segment and continues a run that has seen Patriot add share in three of the last four quarters. It represents 1.3 points of growth in just two quarters, the kind of run that typically precedes a ranking position change.

Coromal Caravans eased slightly from 2.9% to 2.8%, while Royal Flair Caravans slipped from 2.3% to 2.1% and Windsor RVs held at 2.1%. Essential Caravans improved from 1.8% to 2.1%, and Design RV rose from 1.4% to 1.9%. Both brands have now been posting incremental gains across multiple quarters, and at their current growth rates, both could realistically break into the top 15 within a quarter or two.

Further, Australian Off Road Campers held at 1.9%, Sunliner increased from 1.6% to 1.8%, and Track Trailer remained flat at 1.7%. Viscount Caravans edged up from 1.5% to 1.6%, while Goldstream improved from 1.3% to 1.5%.

Notable Movers and Brands to Watch

The RVMAP data shows that accreditation does not flatten competition. Snowy River Caravans, Patriot Campers, Essential Caravans, and Design RV all improved in Q1 2026, while the brands at the top remained closely competitive. The accredited segment is also notable for what it reveals about mid-market dynamics. Below the top three, five brands each added at least 0.2 points across different product categories and price points, a spread that reflects just how fragmented consideration remains in this segment.

Patriot Campers is the brand to watch most closely in this category. Having added 1.3 points in two quarters from a base of 2.3%, it is moving at a pace that could push it into the top 10 of the RVMAP segment if Q2 delivers anything close to Q1’s result.

If you want to understand where your brand sits and what it takes to move the needle, Retain Media can help. Download the full Q1 2026 RV Market Brand Consideration Report below, explore our other market reports for comprehensive analysis across Australia’s automotive and transport sectors, or contact our team to discuss what the data means for your digital strategy.