Redhead chippy Ben Souter has Donald Trump Jr to thank for his camper trailer company's move into the US market

BRS Offroad is a luxury hybrid camper trailer manufacturer founded in 2014 by enterprising chippy Ben Souter.

Raised in the Snowy Mountains, Souter was en route to Coffs Harbour with his partner to live when he stopped in Newcastle and found work as a contract carpenter fitting out caravans.

Souter always dreamt of building his own camper van. When his employer went into liquidation, the die was cast. From a rented shed in Redhead, he designed and built his first bespoke model, the teardrop-shaped Pursuit, an off-road camper trailer with all the mod cons.

The Pursuit was his "bread and butter" income for three years until he built the Sherpa, which won Camper Australia's Camper Trailer of 2019 ($50,000+) and caught the eye of Mr Trump Jr.

"We put some images on Instagram and he jumped on, liked our post and shared it," recalls Mr Souter.

"You get a lot of s##t talk on social media, but it ended with phone calls with a dealer in Texas, among others.

"We are a dot in the ocean, we only build 30 units a year compared to a mid-range camper company that builds 100. They wanted 50 units and I just laughed and said we couldn't do that much."

Negotiations led to test units being sent to the US and the demand resolved by BRS Offroad exporting products for assemblage abroad.

BRS Offroad fits into a small niche market, with only a few Australian firms making the hybrid campers.

Its trailers are designed to go off-road but have comforts of a caravan.

Mr Souter said the design, materials and construction of his trailers are unique.

"Most manufacturers build traditionally with a chassis, four walls and roof; ours is constructed as a fibreglass cone that is vacuum-packed together - a method that is common in Europe, a bit like a Cryovac - then we do the base from aluminium, similar to a boat," he says.

Paying tribute to his "right hand man" Lachie Hughes, Mr Souter says the company can't keep up with demand and plans to grow organically in Australia and abroad.

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