Motorhome: road safety and the economics of buying vs renting

After almost 70 years, Bürstner has stopped making caravans — and nobody was particularly surprised once sales had fallen by a third. Sweden registered 62% more motorhomes and is preparing to let them drive faster. Chet Hanks moved into a retirees' trailer park in Nashville — for the country music career, not the savings. Plus a Korean workation site for 100 motorhomes, an unmanned trailer hotel on Hokkaido, and a gyrocopter pilot who landed on a highway and clipped an oncoming motorhome — all in this issue.

In the night of May 5, 2026, a caravan caught fire in Kerinov Grm. Firefighters from PGE Krško quickly extinguished the blaze; no injuries were reported.

Bürstner has halted caravan production as demand fell 13%. Poland is proposing to scrap road tolls for campervans, while Liguria counts the cost of 8,000 motorhomes descending on the region. Tom Hanks' son has swapped Hollywood for a trailer in pursuit of a music career, and a French couple has driven 100,000 km from the North Cape to Senegal — and that's not even the whole story. All this in this issue.

In the Ljutomer area, police recorded a theft involving breaking into a motorhome. Over the past day, they also handled two criminal offenses, a breach of public order in a private space, a traffic accident with minor injuries, two collisions with game, and seized a vehicle. Six foreigners were detained for illegal entry, requesting international protection.

Greece has cancelled its own camper van ban — a year and a half on, as if it got cold feet. In Tenerife, 500 motorhomes blocked a motorway demanding the same — pitches and dump stations. In Miami, 200 families are being evicted from a motorhome park by September, while Córdoba is only just applying for permission for a new overnight area. Plus 21 kg of cocaine in a motorhome in Lanzarote, a fake eight-wheeled Mercedes-AMG G63 and a Starbucks coffee trailer in Seoul — in this issue.

Almería is putting up physical barriers to keep motorhomers off its former fairground — while Turkey simply evicts them from the beach. Lightship is quadrupling its electric-caravan factory in Colorado, even as 50% of Italian motorhome renters turn out to be under 35. Plus 800 kg of hashish in a motorhome at the Spanish border, Anker's 800 W charger running off the alternator, and Carstay as the mobile HQ of a Tokyo festival — all in this issue.