LANCASHIRE-based caravan specialists Barrons are going Down Under -- setting up a dealership in New Zealand.
The £500,000 move comes after company director David Hold went on a touring holiday round the country last year.
Barrons, whose head office is at Coppull near Chorley, expect the new dealership to be up and running in the next few months. Like Barrons' outlet in Darlington, it will sell tourers, motorhomes, awnings and accessories. The dealership, on a three-acre site in Taupo, Central Island, is set to be managed by expatriat Lancashire couple Lee and Ann Wilson, who used to live next door to David and his wife Sue. The neighbours used to go on caravan holidays together.
The firm believes there is a need for more caravans in New Zealand, where a luxury tax imposed in the 1980s forced most of the country's leisure vehicle manufacturers to close. That tax has since been phased out and Barrons hope to create 12 new jobs by stepping into the marketplace.
The company is also considering a second New Zealand project hiring out top-of-the-range motorhomes which could be booked through the internet.
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