Mercedes now builds the Marco Polo itself · VanLife Weekly #42

Mercedes-Benz has taken assembly of the Marco Polo camper van away from Westfalia and moved it to its own plant near Berlin. Also this week: Bulgaria now requires insurers to sell motorhome cover for as little as 30 days, the Camping-Car Park network counted 20% more overnight stays in September than a year earlier, and diesel fell by 3.9–4.6% in a single week in the Netherlands and Poland.

Mercedes now builds the Marco Polo in Ludwigsfelde: a new roof adds 10 cm of headroom, prices from €96,638

Since 1984, Westfalia had built the Marco Polo camper van for Mercedes-Benz. It took a V-Class people carrier, cut an opening for a pop-up roof with a bed, and fitted the kitchen and furniture. Now Mercedes does this work itself. Assembly has moved to the Ludwigsfelde plant south of Berlin, which already builds the Sprinter and eSprinter, and the company has opened a dedicated workshop there. The base vehicle still comes from the Spanish plant in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

The Marco Polo also gets a new pop-up roof, made of aluminium instead of glass fibre. When raised, it gives 10 cm more headroom at the back than the old one. The outside dimensions are unchanged: 5.14 m long and 1.99 m high with the roof down. That leaves 1 cm to spare under a 2 m height barrier at a car park entrance, but with a roof box or bike rack on top it will not fit. French prices have been announced: €96,638 for the 220 d, €98,815 for the 250 d and €103,817 for the 300 d. The number in the name refers to the engine. All three are 2-litre diesels, with 163, 190 and 237 hp. Mercedes promises a panoramic roof with an opening hatch by the end of 2026.

Volkswagen has long built its California itself, at its plant in Hanover. Now Mercedes is also responsible for the whole camper, from the base vehicle to the kitchen. For buyers this may make warranty claims simpler: the carmaker itself now fits the pop-up roof and the furniture, not an outside firm.

Number of the week: diesel 4.6% cheaper in the Netherlands

Across the 27 EU countries, the price of diesel barely moved this week: the median change was −0.04%. Of the 154 countries where OpenVan.camp tracks fuel prices, diesel went up in 42 and down in 40. The biggest fall was in the Netherlands, from €2.62 to €2.50 a litre. This is the third weekly fall in a row; at the end of September the price reached €2.70. In Poland diesel fell from 8.29 to 7.97 zloty (−3.9%), leaving it almost 10% below its peak of 8.85 zloty two weeks ago. Luxembourg went the other way: diesel there rose by almost 8 cents, to €2.06 a litre (+3.9%).

With an 80-litre tank, filling up in the Netherlands now costs about €10 less than a week ago. Diesel there is still dearer than next door, though: around €2.25 a litre in Germany and around €2.42 in Belgium. If your route takes you through Poland, fill up there: 7.97 zloty is about €1.80 a litre, well below the German price. We update prices for every country each weekend on our Fuel prices page.

In brief

• Bulgaria, insurance · adopted: Parliament has passed amendments requiring insurers to sell third-party liability policies for 30 days, three months or six months for motorhomes, trailers and motorcycles. Until now, many insurers refused to sell such short policies. A motorhome owner who only travels in summer will be able to pay for just those months rather than the whole year. Insurers will set the prices for short policies themselves, and the amendments take effect once published in the official State Gazette (Darzhaven vestnik).
• Luxembourg, stopovers · planned: the Ministry of the Economy has launched a project for a network of motorhome stopovers in two categories, Standard and Premium. Municipalities and non-profit organisations will receive state funding to build them. Sleeping in a motorhome outside permitted places is banned: at Lake Upper Sûre, only 18 reports and fines have been issued since the start of the year, ranging from €24 to €1,000.
• Netherlands, motorhomes parked at home · court ruling: the Council of State, the country's highest administrative court, has ruled that a motorhome on private land counts as parked if it is used as intended and not simply stored. This means the municipality does not have to order its removal. A resident of Boxtel had demanded that the municipality remove the motorhomes from his neighbour's property, and lost. The three-day limit for parking on public streets still applies.
• France, demand: the Camping-Car Park network counted 704,153 overnight stays in September. That is 20.2% more than in September 2025 and 10.6% more than in July, even though September has one day fewer. If you are planning a trip to France next September, book popular seaside stopovers well ahead.
• USA, rentals: according to the Campstar rental portal, renting a motorhome in the USA in 2026 costs €152 a day on average, down from €227 in 2022. Two weeks in a motorhome now cost €2,128 on average instead of €3,178. In Germany, rentals got slightly dearer over the year: €130 a day against €127 in 2025.
• Australia, market: in 2025 the country had almost 938,000 registered caravans and camper vans, 32% more than in 2019. Some owners are swapping big caravans for compact vans, which are easier to drive and attract less attention when parked.
• USA, Winnebagoⓘ: the American motorhome maker will lay off another 51 workers on 9 November at its plant in Forest City, Iowa. That brings this year's job cuts there to 78, as the company concentrates production in Iowa and Indiana on fewer plants.

Where to go

The north coast of Brittany (France) in October. In Locquirec (Finistère), a 17-pitch motorhome stopover has opened right by the sea. A day costs €18.44, including waste disposal, drinking water and electricity. Visitors disagree about the price: some find it too high, others say the sea view is worth it. In October the summer crowds have gone, and the weather is still good for walks along the shore. Morlaix is about half an hour away, and the Pink Granite Coast (Côte de Granit Rose) about an hour. If you head further east to Normandy in spring, a 36-pitch stopover is due to open in Barneville-Carteret by Easter 2027, at €15 a night, all included.

Watch out

• Spain, Galicia · in force: the municipalities of Trabada and Ribadeo in A Mariña (province of Lugo) have adopted rules for motorhome parking. You may not put out chairs or awnings, empty waste outside designated points, or stay longer than allowed: in Trabada, up to four days in a row on designated pitches; in Ribadeo, no more than 48 hours in a row and 72 hours a week. Fines range from €200 to €3,000. In neighbouring Xove, similar rules are open for public consultation until 30 October. The mayor of Ribadeo explains the difference: you may park a motorhome in a car park, but you may only sleep in it where this is permitted. Look up official stopovers before you set off.
• USA, Seattle and Palo Alto · proposed: Seattle City Council votes on new rules on 20 October: sleeping in a motorhome on the street would be banned, and daytime parking limited to two hours. Local residents who live in their vehicles would be exempt and receive a free permit. On 19 October Palo Alto City Council discusses a parking ban from 8 pm to 8 am within 30 m of homes. If you are passing through Seattle or Palo Alto, plan in advance where you will spend the night, somewhere other than the street.
• Germany and Croatia, theft: in Munich, thieves stole a Fiat motorhome along with its luggage and two e-bikes after the owner left it on the street for two days. In Varaždin, a sat nav and an e-bike were stolen from a Slovenian tourist's motorhome. If you leave your vehicle on the street for a long time, do not keep bikes or valuables inside, and keep the sat nav out of sight.
• Italy, fire: in Quartu, Sardinia, a motorhome parked in the courtyard of a block of flats caught fire. Some reports say a gas cylinder exploded, others blame a short circuit. Nobody was hurt. Before the first cold nights, check your gas hoses, regulator and wiring, and fit a gas detector if you do not have one.

This week's calendar: 19–26 October

• 22–25 October, Soumoulou (France): the VIVA Camping-Car motorhome show, open 10am to 7pm with no lunchtime closing.
• 22–25 October, Saint-Étienne (France): a regional show of motorhomes and camper vans, tickets €5, free for under-16s.
• 22–26 October, Bern (Switzerland): Suisse Caravan Salon, around 400 exhibitors, adult ticket CHF 17, CHF 12 on Monday.
• 23–25 October, Cehegín (Spain): a meet-up for the 20th anniversary of AC-MUR, the Murcia motorhome owners' club; the organisers expect around 250 people.
• 23–25 October, Mollerussa (Spain): Autotardor, a used vehicle fair with around 400 vehicles for sale, including caravans and camper vans.
• 23–26 October, Tours (France): the Tours Auto & Mobile show, with a separate motorhome area, advance tickets €5.
• 24–25 October, Osaka (Japan): Osaka Camping Car Fair: Japanese campers built on kei cars and vans, tickets online only, ¥800.

Community of the week

Camp Circle: who to meet on the road. Camp Circle is a free community website from Germany for people who travel by motorhome or caravan. It is run by Mike and Mirco, who travel this way themselves. Registered members can see which other members are parked nearby, post in a shared feed and recommend campsites and private pitches to each other. Camp Circle also has a separate Gay Camping section, and the meet-up is open to everyone. From 15 to 22 May 2027, members will gather at Nymindegab Familie Camping on Denmark's North Sea coast. Registration at camp-circle.de is free, and you can sign up for the meet-up until 31 January 2027. Pitches at the campsite must be booked and paid for separately.

Good news to finish

A motorhome for a wedding. Mücahit Güller from Karabük in northern Turkey spent three years turning a 2004 Magirus truck into a motorhome with his own hands: his bride, Rukiye, had dreamed of a home on wheels for 15 years. The couple built the furniture and interior themselves, drawing on Mücahit's experience in the furniture trade. The finished motorhome became their wedding car.

Touring America's national parks by camper. Eugene Breindel is 71 and has lived since 2018 in a folding camper about 4 metres long, with four flexible solar panels. Since September 2019 he has visited 284 sites run by the US National Park Service: not only parks, but also national monuments and historic sites. He has spent nights in all 48 contiguous states, that is everywhere except Alaska and Hawaii. He winters in Quartzsite, Arizona, and spends the autumn in Texas. He even turns the camper to the sun with care when he parks, because that decides how well his fridge works. Because of knee and back pain, he is already wondering how much longer he can keep living like this.