Just fold down the rear seat, follow the assembly instructions, and let’s go for the adventure. In Angers, a young start-up has just launched an innovative solution to easily transform large cars, vans or utility vehicles into fitted mini vans. Sleeping for two people, sliding storage (notably for carrying a battery, stove or water reserve), folding table… Each removable wooden kit weighs only 50 kg and offers the bare minimum for going on holiday with your vehicle. “You can sleep there, take shelter there, eat there, explains Julien Boucault, the founder of Chao Chao, surfing on the craze around the “van life”. It is more than enough to discover nature and marvel. No need to invest in a van, which is often very expensive and over-equipped. Especially when you know that it is used on average only about thirty days a year. »
It was while touring Norway with his wife and son, “in a very summarily furnished station wagon”, that the forty-year-old, concerned about the environment, began to develop his idea. Eight years later, he gave up his job as a hydrobiologist to lock himself in his garage, armed with a numerically controlled milling machine and a lot of motivation. “The specifications were very dense, recalls the one who had to train in carpentry. I wanted something light, like a big puzzle, that you could set up and take down in five minutes without tools. It was also very important to work with local wood species, I finally opted for poplar from Pays-de-la-Loire. »
A remarkable passage in “Who wants to be my partner? »
For around 3,000 euros, Tchao Tchao therefore promises to be able to equip more than a hundred models of cars (SUV) and compatible vans for the moment. If the young company, really launched only a few months ago, has only sold a hundred kits, it has already convinced the two famous investors Eric Larchevêque and Jean-Pierre Nadir, during its passage on M6 in “Qui wants to be my partner? “, at the end of January. “I had just left my studio when the producer of the show contacted me, for a shoot in September, smiles Julien Boucault. The following week, we started working with investors, both of whom were very responsive. I think I made the right choice: one helps me for the industrialization part, the other for the distribution network that I am in the process of setting up in garages all over France, and car rental companies. »
The company, which has moved to larger premises and is hiring two people, is now working on a version for city cars, of the Clio or 208 type, with a bed of 1.75m which will therefore be more recommended for single people (and not too much). large). While waiting for this new kit, which should be released “soon”, Julien Boucault likes to receive news from his first users, “many young retirees but also young couples”. “With the kit, some go 10 km from home to live an experience in the forest. Technically, we can go further like these customers who will soon leave for a six-month tour of Europe, says the founder. The objective is to create a whole community, ambassadors who will advocate the values of minimalism. The less space we have, the less unnecessary things we store! »