Page 23 - Australasian Paint & Panel Jul-Aug 2020

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ISE BUSINESSES, HOWEVER, LIKE
vehicle-enhancement brand RVE International, in Auckland, didn’t wait for the Coronavirus panic to end before starting the necessary, and nifty,
process of diversifying.
Heading into a lockdown far harsher
than what we experienced in Australia, RVE boss Jim Stanners took a sewing ma- chine home from his business, which was originally set up as an auto upholstery shop, and thought he might make some- thing useful, like a BBQ cover.
Then he started thinking about the idea of Personal Protective Equipment, which
was in the news a lot, and how that might apply to people who still needed to drive around. And then a thought bubble struck him, which became the RVE Driver Bubble; the world’s first form of automotive PPE.
The Driver Bubble is a simple, intui- tive, flexible screen that protects driv- ers and passengers from droplets and spray and allows them to maintain so- cial distancing.
“We got the first one into a vehicle in around three weeks and once we worked out how to do it, we applied to the gov- ernment to be an essential service, and that allowed five of us to get back to work, and then the AA picked it up over here, and it took off,” Stanners adds.
Peoplegotusedtonot
spending, they formed new habits during the lockdown,
and now they don’t want to spendwhattheyhaven’tgot.”
“I was just thinking about vinyl seat covers and things, and how could we put two staff members in the same ve- hicle and make it safe, and we came up with this idea for the Driver Bubble, made out of the kind of clear PVC you’d use for a marine boat cover, which could create a barrier between driver and passengers, but be easier to fit - and remove, in an emergency - than the kind of hard, perspex screens you see in taxis,” Stanners, 44, he explains.
While sales of the Driver Bubble were encouraging, Stanners points out that it only managed to get RVE back up to about 8 per cent of its normal turnover – “if it wasn’t for the Bubble, we would have been at zero” – al- though now the lockdown has official- ly ended in New Zealand, things are slowly returning to normal.
Changing the offerings of his business to adapt to the new economic realities is still very much on his mind, however, as he says it’s noticeable that people have become far more careful about money.
“People got used to not spending, they formed new habits during the lockdown, and now they don’t want to spend what they haven’t got, so I think we’ll see the second-hand car market taking off while new-car sales will fall,” Stanners says.
LEFT RVE International specialises in bodykits and modifications such as this EXY Extreme Class kit.
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