Caravan Salon: Germans spent almost €23 billion on caravanning

Rolf Mickler from Osterwieck brought his Dübener Ei, a caravan trailer produced in East Germany, to an East German camper meeting in Harzgerode. The event gathered owners of historic vehicles.

German manufacturer Morelo has overhauled its ultra-premium motorhome (liner) catalog, dropping flashy decor for light colors and brushed aluminum. The flagship Grand Empire model features a king-size bed, rain shower, heated floor, induction hob, fridge, freezer, microwave, 900 W solar panels and four 800 Ah batteries. The 18-tonne motorhome is based on a Mercedes Actros with a 12.8-litre inline-six producing 530 hp and 2,800 Nm, and its 500-litre diesel tank costs €1,150 to fill. The 26 T version is priced at €800,000 and includes a heated garage for a small car. Morelo builds around 500 liners annually, though after expanding its plant in 2021 it aimed to sell 1,000 per year, including cheaper models at €300,000–€400,000. Main customers are professionals, rental and event companies, and racing teams, including Formula 1 crews. The company generates €165 million in revenue with a profit of just over €100,000.

German company Aurum Globe unveiled the first completed unit of its Aurum R1 travel trailer at the New Housing – Tiny House Festival 2026 in Karlsruhe, Germany. The R1 measures 4.6 meters long, 3 meters high, and 2.5 meters wide on the road; at camp, it expands to 4.8 meters in width, providing 15 square meters of living space. It features a patent-pending fully automatic expandable mechanism controlled via a tablet or smartphone app, which unfolds two large slide-outs and auto-levels the trailer. The unit sleeps two and weighs 2,300 kg, allowing it to be towed with a standard B category driving license. An earlier estimated starting price of €97,000 was mentioned for a version without slides, but no updated price has been released for the R1 with slides.

In Bad Saulgau, an 89-year-old man driving a motorhome scraped a hairdresser's wall and then hit it again with a bicycle rack. Police are investigating whether he was fit to drive.

A test compared the Ecoflow River 2 Pro (768 Wh) and Delta 3 Plus (1024 Wh) portable power stations as an alternative to installing an auxiliary battery, inverter and 12 V sockets in a campervan. The units, with up to 1600 W in Boost mode, cannot fully power a hair dryer or kettle, but are suitable for a fridge, charging gadgets and low-wattage appliances. Prices for models around 1000 Wh start at 500 euros; unlike fixed installations, they are not exempt from VAT when purchased for a motorhome.

At the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf (28 August to 6 September), the modular Cubivan Camping System (CCS) was presented, converting a five-seat Volkswagen ID. Buzz van into a two-person camper. The system consists of a sliding rear module with a kitchen and composting toilet, and a fold-out roof bedroom with a bed measuring approximately 2 x 2 metres. The prototype is also compatible with the Volkswagen Caravelle, Ford Tourneo Custom and Mercedes-Benz Vito. Orders will open in summer 2027, with an estimated price for a complete set of around 22,000 to 25,000 euros, excluding the vehicle.