Best Spring Caravan Road Trips in Australia
Spring might be the most underrated season for hitting the road with a caravan in tow. The summer crowds haven’t arrived. The winter chill has
Twenty years is a long time in the 4×4 world. Brands come and go. Trends fade. Yet some names stick around. In Clearview Accessories’ case, the answer sits in a simple habit the company has never dropped: solving real problems for people who spend time on and off the road. In 2026, that habit has produced one of the busiest release years in the brand’s history — and it lands right on their 20th anniversary.
From One Frustrated Bloke to Australia’s Most Trusted Touring Name
Back in 2006, towing mirrors didn’t exist. Mike Cowan got tired of squinting past a caravan he couldn’t see around, so he built his own solution. That single prototype sparked a business — and, arguably, an entire product category.
Mike didn’t do it alone for long. Alongside his son-in-law, Jay Praag, he turned a shed-built fix into an international brand trusted by everyone from weekend tourers to the crews at All 4 Adventure, 4WD 24/7, and Pat Callinan’s 4×4 Adventures. That origin story matters today because the same question that started it all — what if we could make touring better? — still drives the gear rolling out this year.
A Landmark Year for New Product
Anniversary years often turn into nostalgia exercises. Clearview went the other way and came out swinging. The brand released extendable towing mirrors for an impressive spread of new-model utes and wagons:
That’s ten vehicle platforms in the first half of the year — and if you tow anywhere near a 3,500kg braked capacity, you’ll understand why fitment specific to each model matters. Generic clip-ons don’t cut it when you need reliable vision under load.
On top of the mirrors, Clearview launched its new Swing Boards for the Prado 250. Rather than dropping straight down like traditional electric steps, they swing outward to create a wider, more natural stepping platform. It’s a small rethink of a familiar problem, which is very on-brand.
The Clearview x TJM Hilux N90: R&D You Can Walk Around
The showpiece of the year is the co-branded 2026 Toyota Hilux N90, built in partnership with TJM 4×4. This Hilux is not just a rolling billboard; it is a genuine test platform. It carries pre-production Compact Towing Mirrors and Power Boards (electric side steps) still wearing R&D prototype status — meaning the gear bolted to this truck is being validated on real roads, under real load, before it reaches dealers. Running prototypes on a high-visibility vehicle is a deliberate choice. If something underperforms, it does so in the open. That’s a more honest approach than testing quietly and marketing loudly.
The Clearview gear on board
The rest of the build shows off the wider range doing real work:
Power Slide and Easy Slide, both finished in TJM Gold — effortless fridge access inside the canopy.
Key Partners in the Build
TJM brought protection, air, and vision to the build: the Outback Bull Bar (a hand-made pre-production sample engineered for the N90), the Pro Series Twin Air Compressor paired with a 5L Air Tank for quick reinflation and air-powered accessories, LED Driving Lights for remote night travel, and XGS Suspension to keep the ute level and controlled once fully kitted out.
Power comes from an integrated Projecta system — a 200Ah lithium battery, a 50A DC-DC charger, a 200W solar panel, a 2100W pure sine wave inverter, and the Intelli-IQ monitor tying it all together. In short: store the power, charge it fast on the move, top it up with solar in camp, and run 240V gear whenever you need it.
Why Twenty Years and This Much New Gear Actually Matters
It’s one thing to celebrate a milestone. It’s harder to earn it and keep innovating at the same time. This is a brand still solving problems rather than resting on its history. Twenty years in, Clearview is treating the milestone as a checkpoint, not a finish line.
Want to see the next release before it hits the market? Keep an eye out for the Clearview x TJM Hilux at your next 4×4 or Caravan show — you might be looking at gear that isn’t in dealers yet. And if your 4wd is on that ten-strong fitment list, now’s a good time to see what proper vision looks like!
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