Campervan

Mercedes-Benz is to launch a new urban delivery van later this year named the Citan (“city” and “titan”) - the little brother to the Sprinter and Vito. The Citan will be first seen at the IAA Commercial Vehicle Show in Hanover in September. The new van will be available with petrol, diesel and electric drivetrains, and with panelvan, crewbus and mixed use bodies, and in a variety of lengths and weights. My bet is that there's an ideal base for a small campervan there too. Read More

Marchi Mobile has launched its eleMMent series of ultra-luxurious recreational vehicles. Designed to offer a mansion away from the mansion, the series comes in three, fully configurable flavors and offers everything you'll never need on the road, including automatic boarding stairs, a flybridge and an operational fireplace. Read More

NAU, the design studio behind the 360-degree Immersive Cocoon we checked out earlier this month, has penned this streamlined, zero-local-emission Ecco Camper concept with a view to inspiring a new way of getting away from it all in the 21st Century. Read More

Integrating the toilet bowl, basin, mirror and a vanity table into one, the Home Core concept has a storage tank that can be used to flush the toilet with water saved from the hand-washing basin. The water pressure on the unit can also be controlled to four different levels to help conserve potable water. Some might see it as taking the idea of all-in-one a step too far, but we think this unit would be great aboard high-end campervans, yachts, even aircraft, where space is at a premium and fresh water can be scarce. Read More

The impact of the microwave oven on human grazing habits has been extreme. It can reheat frozen food or cook raw food in a fraction of the time required of a conventional oven and has brought the convenience of preparing food to new levels. Now a portable microwave oven offers those same capabilities to people who need to prepare food away from the kitchen, or indeed off-the-grid entirely – truckies, RVers, boaties, campers … . The US$250 WaveBox weighs just 6.3 kg (14 pounds), runs on mains voltage regardless of country, and can also run from a 12 volt battery using alligator leads or from your in-vehicle power outlet. This is without doubt a killer app! Read More

If you enjoy peace and quiet on your camping holidays, the "Opera” might not be the ideal choice. Emulating the renowned lines of the Sydney Opera House in Australia, this luxurious mobile home designed by Belgian architect Axel Enthoven is bound to get lots of scrutiny from inquisitive campers and passers-by... and it deserves all the attention it gets. Read More

The SpaceCamper is not your normal camper van. The SpaceCamper was designed by young German designer, engineer and entrepreneur Markus Riese, the fellow who designed the first folding bicycle with suspension on both wheels (the “Birdy”) and founded German bicycle manufacturer Riese and Muller while still at school. Riese took a year off when he graduated, buying a campervan for 12 months of touring Australia on a surfing holiday. As he worked his way around the vast Australian continent, meeting many other campervan explorers, the concept of the SpaceCamper was born – to build everything a full blown much larger camper has into a T5 transporter, and to be able to reconfigure the layout so that it can be repurposed for use in multiple roles. As usual, he succeeded big time! Read More

UPDATED September 28, 2006 A few weeks ago we reported on the Innovan which fits to a 4WD chassis to turn it into a campervan, and can also be dropped off the flatbed and serve as a stand-alone unit. The key aspect of the Innovan’s engenuity is the folding design which enables it to cheat the wind by folding down when driving, and open up to offer a spacious interior when parked. Now we’ve seen another variation on the same theme and it’s equally worth a look as it is even more aerodynamic than the Innovan. Read More

August 23, 2006 We’ve written about massive all-modern-convenience off-road motorhomes such as the DRACO and Wothahellizat but we’ve never seen anything quite like the Innovan for efficiency. The fibreglass camper shell is light (about 500 kgs unladen), extremely strong and very versatile. It can be fitted to any conventional tray-back ute or modified dual and king cab chassis and will open out like a Swiss Army Knife (movie) inside 30 seconds (movie here). When configured for travel, the aerodynamic shape of the camper minimises wind drag and the cross-wind problems usually associated with campers and vans, and the light weight means that when attached to a four wheel drive, it can go just about anywhere (pics inside the story prove this). The ingenious design offers one of the most versatile rigs we’ve ever seen, because you just jack up the air suspension, put some legs in place once the van is off the tray, you have the convenience of a normal ute. Innovan is seeking international distributors and licensees for the design. Read More