A company with a true-blue Aussie name is making inroads in the Kiwi 4WD and outdoor gear market. Bushwakka has been offering awnings, rooftop tents and more since 2018 and is now truly international, with branches in Europe, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, the USA and now New Zealand.
Like the New Zealand project, the parent company was established in Australia in 2018 by Johnny and his wife Annalize Loots. Two years part-time established the foundations, then the couple went all-out in 2020.
Bushwakka made its name with Australian-designed awnings to cope with the harsh conditions in Australia. With more than four years of R&D and listening to customer feedback, improvements have been implemented with each new model. Offering a 100% freestanding awning and increased strength has made Bushwakka one of the best brands in the Australian market
“Kiwi 4WDers have been able to buy online from Australia and more recently from the new local Bushwakka company.”
Bushwakka’s New Zealand operations manager is Johnny’s brother Trevor. He has spent the last two years laying foundations, generating sales and preparing to ‘soft launch’ the company’s local arm. So far, it’s been a very modern web-focussed business model with sales driven through the website and freighted by a third-party warehousing company.
“We have modelled Bushwakka NZ exactly from the parent company in Australia. The Bushwakka product range is all on our local website, making the sales process easy.”
A big driver behind Bushwakka’s growth is the resurgence of interest in local overlanding brought about by travel restrictions during the Covid lockdown.
Now, the aim is to create a nationwide dealer or agent network. One of the first of these is Fortress Trailers in Albany, North Auckland; while Altitude Offroad is the company’s first major re-seller outside of Auckland.
The company was at the Kumeu 4WD expo this year and plans to be visible at public events such as the hunting and fishing show planned for Rotorua next month.
Bushwakka can also be seen in action on the Aussie 4WD24/7 Youtube channel and the Instagram pages of Brad Wall’s GUMad Patrol, Weekendwarriors4x4 and Josh James the Kiwi Bushman.
