I'm sorry to see AWOL close too.
It seems to be a fact of life that many people have a vision of what they want to do, and the business they want to run, but in their enthusiasm to do what they want to do, they don't necessarily cross all the T's and dot all the I's.
I'm not saying this is the problem in this case.
In the enthusiasm to open the business, they might not necessarily have the capital to start AND CONTINUE TO RUN the business, or other unforseen problems occur.
Whilst I know I love to drive my Perentie, they are certainly a niche product. Not everyone want to drive a noisy, unairconditioned, leaky truck! Maybe backpackers think it's great, but I'd suspect the market for the product is very narrow and that means difficulty in getting cash flow to maintain the business.
If he had a fleet of over 40 Perenties, that is a lot of money in plant alone. We all know they never break down (!) so there are costs there, plus staff, plus how was it marketed? I find backpackers "difficult" customers as they want their product cheap. I'm assuming this is part of their marketing mix looking at the website for hiring the vehicles.
Perhaps supplying movie props would have been an option, I don't know, but the whole concept of what they were trying to do does not seem to be "mass market", rather "niche market". To me, unfortunately, niche market also means small market, although if you can get it right, niche market can mean good profits, but it does have to be the right niche market.
