The 61st Caravan Salon has started in Düsseldorf.

It is the first since 2019 that is hardly affected by Corona and the interest in advance was huge, as was the general interest in caravanning.

According to a representative survey by market researchers from Miios and Gsr management consultancy, 31 percent of all people are "caravan-affine", which means a theoretical potential of around 20 million customers.

And 12 percent of the affine state that they want to visit the salon.

That would be a good two million, which would probably exceed the capacity of the fair.

Last year almost 190,000 visitors came in ten days.

Boris Schmidt

Editor in the "Technology and Engine" department.

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The pleasure of getting a complete overview of the industry costs 16 euros.

In addition to what can be expected, i.e. mobile homes and caravans, it is also about vehicle technology, components and attachments, tents, mobile homes, of course accessories for camping, but also outdoor clothing and equipment.

In addition, tourist regions and camping and parking spaces advertise for visitors.

There should be something for every caravanning friend.

The motto of the 2022 Salon is: "Passion that connects."        

The visitors, the record is 270,000 in the Corona year 2019, will see many completely new products, such as the Bürstner Lyseo Gallery with its inflatable alcove.

Hymer brings the production version of the Vision Venture concept from 2019, an impressive two-person camper with many new ideas.

At the rear, the Mercedes-based off-road camper van does not have the usual gullwing door, but a horizontally divided flap.

So you can have breakfast like on a terrace in the rear.

You need a small ladder to get in the back.

Compact camper vans remain in demand.

Fiat is about to lose its supremacy as a supplier of the base vehicle (Ducato) due to production problems, Ford with its Transit, but Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen are also stepping into the breach.

Decrease due to delivery bottlenecks

However, the general market development seems to contradict the huge desire for leisure vehicles.

Including July, only a good 47,000 mobile homes were newly registered in Germany in 2022, which is a drop of 16 percent compared to the first seven months of the previous year.

The registration of caravans fell by three percent, 16,800 were brought into circulation.

However, the decline is by no means due to flagging demand, but is solely due to the supply bottlenecks, it said when the survey was presented.

Felix Puzio-von Bredow, caravanning dealer from the Kassel area, reports: "There is huge interest and we cannot satisfy it.

We don't have anything standing there.” He only makes firm sales contracts if he has an order confirmation from the manufacturer with the chassis number of the vehicle to be built.

He had to comfort everyone else.

The waiting time is often more than twelve months.

This situation leads to the phenomenon that used vehicles are sometimes traded more expensively than new ones.

Motorhomes that are five to seven years old are more expensive than new, but old caravans are also extremely expensive.

The survey presented last week confirms this assessment: 20 percent of caravan fans, i.e. 300,000, want to buy a new vehicle by the end of 2023, but 60 percent want to spend less money on it, and 40 percent are looking around on the used market.

The most important characteristics of the new vehicle are economical use of fuel, a high level of self-sufficiency and the possibility of financing.

Compared to 2020, the average new price for a mobile home has risen by nine percent to 61,300 euros.

Caravans were only five percent more expensive, the average price was 26,250 euros.

Despite all the interest in caravanning, one result of the survey is surprising: 38 percent of those questioned could not spontaneously name a single caravanning brand.

There is still a lot to do for marketing.