Rongcheng grows into China's RV manufacturing and export hub

At Mingjun Outdoor Leisure Products Co., Ltd. in Rongcheng, a county-level city in east China's Shandong Province, workers cut sheet metal, weld frames and tighten bolts as recreational vehicles (RVs) roll off the line, most of them destined for export.

It took the coastal city just 15 years to grow from shipping its first RV abroad to becoming China's largest RV manufacturing and export base.

In 2011, an Australian buyer asked Rongcheng Longhe Vehicle Co., Ltd. if it could produce tent campers, which were virtually unheard of in China at the time. Longhe took the order anyway, drawing on the skills its workers had developed while making parts for the region's shipbuilding industry, according to an official from the Rongcheng Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology.

A worker assembles recreational vehicles (RVs) at Rongcheng Compaks RV New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. in Rongcheng city, east China's Shandong Province. (Photo: Xinhua)

The following year, Mingjun Outdoor followed suit, and overseas demand for tent campers continued to grow.

Tent campers, however, were relatively low-cost, low-tech products; some sold for as little as 30,000 to 50,000 yuan (about $4,470.07 to $7,450.12), with limited comfort, according to Qian Dongwen, chairman of Mingjun Outdoor. A trip abroad convinced Qian that hardtop RVs — with their rigid fiberglass or aluminum bodies offering better insulation, privacy, and weatherproofing — offered greater potential.

Rongcheng's shipbuilders already had extensive experience with fiberglass molding, since the same material and one-piece hull construction used in boats could be adapted to build RV shells that reduce wind resistance and vibration.

In 2013, Rongcheng's first hardtop RV hit the market, priced at around 300,000 yuan — several times more than its tent-camper predecessors — and demand from overseas buyers surged once again.

The city's RV industry now covers motorhomes, travel trailers, camping trailers, tent campers and other models, accounting for about 30 percent of China's total production. Customs data show the county's RV exports reached 1.06 billion yuan in the first half of 2026, up 21 percent year on year, making up more than 55 percent of China's total RV exports and 87.6 percent of Shandong Province's.

Manufacturers have also modernized production. At Mingjun Outdoor, welding robots developed with Harbin University of Science and Technology have replaced manual welding, improving welding consistency.

At Rongcheng Compaks RV New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., automated cutting machines and robotic arms now assemble body frames with millimeter-level precision. A single trailer can contain nearly 3,000 components, and because most RVs are custom-built to order, manufacturing once took up to 35 days per unit.

Using an industrial internet platform, Compaks has since digitized its entire production chain, tracking parts and quality data in real time and cutting delivery time to as little as 10 days. The company's revenue has grown several-fold over five years, and its trailer exports have ranked among the highest in China for nine consecutive years, reaching more than 10 countries and regions including Australia, Sweden, New Zealand and the U.S.

Over the past 10-plus years, Rongcheng has actively promoted the development of its

RV industry, creating an industrial cluster that has significantly lowered costs for local companies, said Qian.

Rongcheng's RV sector has built a dense local supply chain, with roughly 40 percent of components now sourced locally. The city is home to seven RV manufacturers above designated size and more than 50 parts suppliers, all within a 50-kilometer radius, said Mao Junxiao, head of the Rongcheng Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology.

Customs procedures have kept pace as well. Rongcheng Customs introduced an appointment-based inspection system, cutting clearance times by more than 80 percent while boosting efficiency by 50 percent, according to Song Li, deputy director of Rongcheng Customs.