A lot happened in the motorhome world last week: Xiaomi started selling a large SUV in China with a factory-fitted pop-up sleeping roof, Scarborough in England banned overnight camper parking on four more streets all year round, a Munich court let a renter get their money back for a hired motorhome with failed onboard electrics, and in Gravataí, Brazil, two hundred crews collected 1.1 tonnes of food for the local food bank.
Last week's highlights
- On 7 September Xiaomi opened orders in China for the SkyNomad N90 Max Explorer Edition, a 5.3-metre SUV with a factory electric pop-up roof and a sleeping area on top, priced at 299,900 yuan (about 39,000 euros); no European sales have been announced.
- The French department of Landes is holding its first month of foie gras and Armagnac from 1 to 31 October: six routes through farms and five through family estates in Bas-Armagnac, and some producers let you stay right there in your motorhome.
- Scarborough (North Yorkshire) has extended its ban on overnight motorhome parking from 23:00 to 7:00 to Belvedere Road, Holbeck Road, Esplanade Crescent and Sea Cliff Road, now all year round.
- In Sweden, a driver with a category B licence obtained before 1 July 1996 permanently loses the right to drive a heavy motorhome without a truck category if their licence has ever been revoked, even for a month.
- Around 200 vehicles from Brazil and Paraguay came to the motorhome meet in Gravataí, Brazil, on 4–7 September, and visitors paid for entry with groceries: 1,100 kg of food was collected.
Xiaomi launches an SUV with a factory sleeping roof for 299,900 yuan
Xiaomi, known in Europe mostly for its smartphones, opened orders for its SkyNomad line in China on 7 September, and the N90 Max Explorer Edition got most of the attention. It is a large 5.3-metre family SUV whose roof rises at the push of a button when parked. That gives 2.29 metres of headroom inside, a 2.11 × 0.99 metre sleeping area up top rated for 200 kg, and a second row of seats that folds down into a 1.87 × 1.24 metre bed below. There is underfloor heating, a projector with a 30-inch screen and a 220 V socket, and the roof can only be raised when parked off public roads. The roof version costs 299,900 yuan, 30,000 yuan more than the regular seven-seat N90 Max, and it has five seats. According to Chinese press reports, the whole line took more than 10,000 orders in four minutes.
The car is built in an unusual way: electric motors drive the wheels, and a 1.5-litre petrol engine only recharges the 76 kWh battery. The claimed electric-only range is 464 km, and up to 1,705 km with petrol, but that is under the Chinese test cycle, which is noticeably more optimistic than real roads. What matters more than the figures is this: in the state register, the Explorer Edition is listed not as a regular passenger car but as a special vehicle for leisure and living. Xiaomi explained that inspections, entry restrictions and free toll-road travel during holidays are the same as for a passenger car; only the first registration procedure is different. Buyers don't have to fit a roof tent themselves and then get the conversion approved: it is all done at the factory.
China was not a random choice: 23,616 motorhomes were sold there in 2025, 24.5% more than a year earlier, and registrations of compact leisure vehicles grew by 64.2% in the first half of 2026. Xiaomi is aiming at people who need a proper motorhome a few times a year: on weekdays it is an ordinary SUV that fits in an underground car park, and at weekends it sleeps two or three. The company has not announced any plans to bring the SkyNomad to Europe. But the fact that a major carmaker is fitting a pop-up roof on the assembly line, rather than a conversion workshop, is a good reason to expect similar cars from other brands: in Europe, factory campers with this kind of roof are still almost exclusively van-based.
What this means for you
If you are choosing a compact camper right now, don't put off buying for the sake of a Xiaomi: nothing is known about European sales, and getting a Chinese car approved for European roads takes months. If you are thinking of fitting a roof tent or pop-up roof to your own car, start with the paperwork: find the permitted roof load when parked and when driving in the owner's manual, and ask your insurer whether the vehicle category will change. This week's Irish case shows that a camper conversion changes the tax too. If you are comparing hybrid ranges, expect noticeably less than the figure claimed under the Chinese test cycle: fully loaded and on the motorway, the numbers will be more modest. And if you have long wanted one car for both everyday use and weekends, keep an eye on the autumn shows: manufacturers are clearly moving in that direction.
In brief
- Spain, rules: it is now official: from 1 October, Royal Decree 518/2026 is in force, which for the first time defines when a motorhome counts as simply parked: it rests only on its wheels (wheel chocks are allowed), nothing sticks out beyond its outline and nothing is drained outside. Sleeping inside does not turn parking into camping, but town councils can still restrict where and when you park.
- Germany, taxes: the Baden-Württemberg Finance Court refused to recognise a motorhome as a second home for an employee who slept in it in his employer's car park 72 km from home; the Federal Finance Court did not accept an appeal against the ruling. He could only deduct the costs of 17 trips home.
- Germany, rentals: the Munich District Court allowed a rental to be terminated without notice after all the 12 V sockets in a motorhome hired for four weeks failed on the very first night and a medical breathing device stopped working; the renter was claiming back 3,612 euros.
- Germany, thefts: according to the Federal Criminal Police Office, 470 motorhomes were stolen and never recovered in 2025 out of a fleet of 1,046,383 vehicles, or 4.49 per 10,000, and roughly one in four was built on a Fiat base.
- Germany, market: the caravanning industry brought the country almost 23 billion euros in 2025, although new motorhome registrations in January–July 2026 were down 3.3% to 50,118. Caravan Salon wrapped up with 259,000 visitors and a record 834 exhibitors from 41 countries.
- Italy, show: the 17th Salone del Camper is on in Parma until 20 September, with more than 600 vehicles from 300 exhibitors. Motorhome and campsite tourism gave Italy 74 million overnight stays and 8.5 billion euros in 2025.
- Italy and Germany, environment: the German Ifeu institute calculated that a night in a hotel produces 22.1 kg of emissions in CO₂ equivalent per person, while a night in a camper at a motorhome aire produces 1.8 kg. The shorter the drive and the longer the stay, the bigger the advantage.
- Japan, record: according to the Japan RV Association, the number of motorhomes in the country has reached 173,000, a new all-time high.
- Australia, retirees: the country has almost 938,000 registered caravans and camper vans, 32% more than in 2019, and a record 17.3 million overnight trips were taken in them in 2025. More and more older travellers are switching from large trailers to compact vans.
- Europe, campsites: according to the ACSI inspection service, there are now 90 adults-only campsites, up from 64 in 2021, and Germany has just four. Family campsites are growing too: the number of water playgrounds is up 44%.
- Ireland, tax: the owner of a Ford Transit Custom converted into a camper, with emissions of 37 g/km, received a registration tax bill of 8,500 euros at a 13.3% rate, even though the Revenue rules set 8% for campers with those emissions. If you are registering a conversion in Ireland, check the rate before you pay.
- France, caravan in the garden: if a caravan stays on a plot for more than three months a year, you need to file a prior declaration with the town hall, and the months add up even if the caravan was parked there with breaks.
Where to go
Landes (France), October. Most people drive through Landes on the way to Spain or come in summer for the ocean beaches, but this autumn the department has its own reason to stay a while. From 1 to 31 October it is holding its first month of foie gras and Armagnac: farms, restaurants and family estates are opening their doors to visitors. The routes are already mapped out: six new "foie gras roads" through the hills of Chalosse and Tursan and five "Armagnac roads" through the old fortified towns and estates of Bas-Armagnac, including a route through estates run by women. Some producers let you stay right there in your motorhome. Events this month include open days at the Moulin de Labat farm and a food walk through Hagetmau: two and a half hours, groups of 8 to 20 people, 39 euros per person. It is ideal for a slow trip with short drives and overnight stays with hosts, and the beaches on the coast are already empty in October. If you have long wanted to see south-west France but didn't know where to start, this is your reason.
Watch out
- UK, Scarborough, all year round: after thousands of residents' complaints about grey water being dumped and laundry hung on fences, North Yorkshire Council extended its overnight motorhome parking ban to Belvedere Road, Holbeck Road, Esplanade Crescent and Sea Cliff Road, from 23:00 to 7:00 in every season. Overnight stays were already banned in Sandsend and on Royal Albert Drive. If you are planning the Yorkshire coast, book a campsite in advance and don't count on town streets.
- Germany, Allgäu, now: in the Allgäu High Alps nature reserve, rangers have deployed thermal imaging drones that spot people sleeping in tents and in motorhomes in hikers' car parks, even in dense forest; the fine is up to 600 euros. For the night, leave the trailhead car parks and head to official parking areas.
- Netherlands, parking and winter storage: near-record diesel prices have led to more fuel thefts from parked campers, and thieves increasingly leave the cap alone and drill straight into the tank. Repairing the tank costs more than the stolen fuel, so for long-term parking choose a lit or guarded spot and check whether your insurance covers this kind of damage.
- Sweden, driving licences: the Transport Agency reminds drivers that the old rule allowing category B licences obtained before 1 July 1996 to cover heavy motorhomes disappears for good after any licence revocation, even for a month and even on medical grounds. A fine or a warning does not cancel it. If you hold such a licence, check your category in the road traffic register before getting behind the wheel of anything heavier than 3.5 tonnes.
Good news to finish
Two stories worth passing on.
Two hundred motorhomes and a tonne of food. Gravataí, Brazil, hosted its second motorhome owners' meet from 4 to 7 September: around 200 vehicles from different Brazilian states and from Paraguay, four days of live music and a separate area for guests with dogs. The entry ticket for visitors was unusual: instead of money, people brought groceries. That is how 1,100 kilograms of food was collected, which will go to the city food bank for families in need. A trip that leaves the town not with litter but with full shelves.
A classroom on wheels. Sébastien Roussel taught at a primary school for six years, and in February 2026 he left the education system and converted a camper into a mobile classroom. Now he travels to primary and secondary school pupils himself within 30 km of Flers and Vire in Normandy and works with them one to one, including on an interactive screen. It is already the third such vehicle in the local "Professeur Truck" network, which maths teacher Audrey Kistler came up with in 2019. Sometimes, for a child to start learning, the classroom has to come to them.
This week's questions
Can you buy a Xiaomi SkyNomad camper in Europe?
Not yet. The SkyNomad N90 Max Explorer Edition is only sold in China, for 299,900 yuan, which is about 39,000 euros, and Xiaomi has not announced a European launch. Even if that changes, the car will have to go through European certification, and with duties and shipping the price will be higher than in China. If you need a compact camper for the coming season, it makes sense to choose from what European dealers already sell.
Will I lose the right to drive a heavy motorhome in Sweden if my licence is revoked?
Yes, if you rely on the old rule for category B licences obtained before 1 July 1996. Any revocation, even for one month and even on medical grounds, cancels this exemption for good. Once your licence is returned, category B alone lets you drive a motorhome with a gross weight of up to 3,500 kg only; for a vehicle up to 7,500 kg you will need C1. A speeding fine or a warning without revocation does not cancel the right.
What is there to see in Landes by motorhome in October?
From 1 to 31 October the department is holding its first month of foie gras and Armagnac. Six routes through the farms of Chalosse and Tursan and five routes through the estates and old towns of Bas-Armagnac have been prepared, and some producers let you stay in your motorhome. The programme includes farm open days and a food walk through Hagetmau for 39 euros per person. October also has the advantage that the coastal beaches and roads are quiet after the season.
Can you get your money back for a rented motorhome if its electrics don't work?
In Germany, yes, if the fault is serious. The Munich District Court ruled that what matters in a motorhome is not only that it can be driven but also that you can live in it, including the onboard electrical system. In that case all the 12 V sockets failed on the very first night, a medical breathing device stopped working, and the rental company offered neither a repair nor a replacement. Practical tip: check the sockets, water and heating when you collect the vehicle, and report any faults in writing straight away.
Is it true that a night in a camper produces fewer emissions than a night in a hotel?
According to calculations by the German Ifeu institute, a night in a hotel produces an average of 22.1 kg of emissions in CO₂ equivalent per person, while a night in a camper at a motorhome aire produces 1.8 kg. Driving a motorhome uses more fuel than a car, though, so the overall result depends on the route: the shorter the drives and the longer the stays, the better the camper compares with a car trip with hotel stays.
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