With travel trunks, a company in the Allier turns cars into motorhomes

Already in great shape before the pandemic, the leisure vehicle market continues to grow, and more and more French people want to taste the joys of holidays without constraints. Once again this summer, rental companies expect they will not be able to meet growing demand for motorhomes and campervans. Vehicles that are expensive to buy. So for a few days or a few weeks a year, there are systems to temporarily transform your car into a mini motorhome at a lower cost.

This is what Campinambulle offers, a family business in the Allier region which had a simple idea: to manufacture removable travel trunks, which contain berths, storage, table and even kitchen. Trunks entirely handcrafted by cabinet makers, without nails or screws, and sold between 2000 and 3000 euros each. A concept that is all the rage: the company is overwhelmed by demands with an increase of 170% last year.

The company, created by a cabinetmaker and his wife, is now run by their two sons. They have undertaken to diversify the activity by launching into the transformation and fitting out of vans, and also therefore the creation of new innovative products which allow the company to double its turnover each year. One million euros in 2020 and sales boosted by the health crisis, as Sylvère Matéos, General Manager of Campinambulle explains: “The Covid has sparked a craze for holidays closer to nature, simpler, also towards more mobility, and closer since we can no longer go abroad, so indeed requests are increasing, and we had to to hire“.

Campinambulle is obviously not alone in this flourishing market, other French SMEs are surfing the trend such as Camp’In Box in the Loire, Ludospace in the Vosges, Nomad-Addict in the Morbihan or even Nolty in the Yvelines.