Paid a visit to the Nanjing International Exhibition Center to see what is happening in the Chinese RV world.
Travel to Nanjing was easy as the highways in China are in excellent condition.
The travel to Nanjing
One of my friends in the Wechat group sent an ad for Nanjing International Exhibition Center, and I didn’t need to think for a long time. I need to go here. Kids’ school starts next week, so they could not join as per the school’s regulations. And the wife had some Wechat business going.
No problem, jump in the car, set GPS for the coordinates my friend sent me at 6:30 AM, and let’s go. The fuel tank was full, so I did not need to worry about that. The total distance for the trip was 731km and exactly 50L of B5 diesel. This type of diesel is cheaper than regular diesel; the only difference is that B5 is a mix of 5% biodiesel + 95% normal diesel. The price was 7.63CNY/L on the 28th of August. This is excellent with big diesel SUVs as they have low fuel oil consumption. When we drove 2021 to Inner Mongolia by pulling a trailer for 7200km, the diesel consumption was only 8.8L/100km.
The only issue was that I needed to set up the Nanjing health QR code for Covid at the gasoline station before the Nanjing toll gate, took me 30 minutes to get it correct. Maybe some of the readers already know my Chinese language skills. The skills for reading are even less. So with remote support from my wife and many pictures sent back and forward, I finally managed to get the health QR code right.
Drove a couple of times wrongly in Nanjing as the roundabouts have many roads to choose from, and sometimes the GPS is too slow, but I arrived in one piece at the expo.
Nanjing RV 2022, a small car exhibition on the first floor
First was looking at the entrance to the expo and what was found instead was a small car exhibition on the first floor. Some interesting ones, but I was in a hurry to find the RVs. Quick pictures of some of the local models. Trying to ask about towing capacity, but almost no one seemed to know.
One salesman for Lincoln knew that the Lincoln Nautilus model could pull 2500kg. A little bit too expensive for me anyway. The local models are good-looking with a lot of functions. The variety of local models is vast. Almost every day on the road, you can see some new brand that you never heard of. Many of them are not exported and can be found only in China.
Many RVs in the show, but something was missing.
Now time to attend the RV expo. So many RV manufacturers with different designs and innovations. But something was missing; where were all the caravans? I mainly wanted to look for those but counted only 6 of them among maybe 100 RVs. So many brands selling RVs, and I’m amazed at how many exist.
The most famous RV chassis manufacturers were Iveco and Maxus. Then for the midsize Ford Transit and Mercedes Benz. The RVs have the limitation of a total length of 6m by local regulations, and many manufacturers have added extendable flanks on the side and rear of the RV.
New features were observed: a 360-degree surveillance camera, bigger external cooking/spice racks, a lot of LED lights inside and outside, more off-road vehicles, and integrated full-size washing machines. Even found one with a full-size toilet seat on a mid-size RV.
Caravans
It might be the new regulations for the campers might have affected the sales of the trailers. As of the 1st of April 2022, you must have a class C6 driving license and maximum towing weight in the car document. I have tried to update my car’s documentation, but now I consider it mission impossible. KIA is too old (2014) and an imported model, so now I need to change my car or stop dreaming of traveling by caravan in China.
Page with good information about C6 driving license
Still perfectly capable of pulling a camper, the lack of documentation forces me to change.
The most famous caravan brand in the exhibition was Hymer, and then the local brand. Hymer would be nice but too expensive for me.
Accessories
There were very few sellers for the accessories, only three small boots. Solar panels, gas cooking equipment, and a small shop with shock absorbers and springs. That’s it. I wish there were more accessories sales, as you never know what you need until you see it 🙂
Thanks to my old and new friends
Nanjing RV exhibition 2022.
Petri 大P
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Activity review
Something Good
- Many RVs and manufaturers
- Small scale car show on first floor
- Big space
Need some improvement
- Very few trailers
- Restaurant/coffee shops few and small
- Few accessories sales boots
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