There seems to be no upper limit. Those who visit the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf these days can see the spherical mini trailers or converted box vans, which are considered particularly hip and practical. Of course, you can also shake your head over twelve-meter-long “motor homes” that appear on the chassis of a truck with a self-proclaimed “yacht design” inside.
What is certain is that camping is gradually emancipating itself from the narrow-minded image that a television series once targeted. “The interest in our form of vacation is greater than ever,” says Hermann Pfaff, President of the Caravaning Industry Association (CIVD). From January to July 2021, almost 75,000 recreational vehicles were newly registered in Germany. That was six percent more than in the same period last year, when many people began to rethink the way they travel due to the crisis. “There are also more than in the whole of 2018,” says Pfaff, who works full-time for the market leader Hymer.
The industry is hoping to sell a total of 120,000 huts on wheels this year, which would be a record. But caravanning is also feeling the general problems of the automotive industry: semiconductors are scarce and expensive worldwide, and motorhome manufacturers sometimes wait for chassis or window panes. The branch could “partly not meet the still very high demand”, admits CIVD managing director Daniel Onggowinarso.
Higher prices, longer delivery times
The causes are diverse: Many industries have recovered from the Corona crisis faster than experts had expected. There are still fewer aircraft on the move in global logistics, and ports have had to close at times. And storms slowed export-oriented industries, for example in the USA.
For those interested in motorhomes, this means: “The prices are rising”, says Onggowinarso, “because the supply chains dictate higher prices for us”. Waiting times have also become longer. In addition, the number of campsites has increased in recent years. The capacities “cannot keep up with the growth of the vehicle population”, complains Pfaff.
Meanwhile, it accumulates in the order books of manufacturers. For example, Knaus Tabbert recently reported an order backlog of 36,000 vehicles, almost twice as many as at the beginning of the year. According to its own admission, the Lower Bavarian company could have earned even more without the restrictions along the supply chain. Therefore Knaus Tabbert wants to expand the production capacities.