$155K Wave camper van marks Westfalia's big return to USA RV market

Instead of dragging us along with a drawn-out teaser campaign, Westfalia is returning to the North American market in a hurry. The company announced the return last year and immediately followed up by previewing the van to industry folks at the Elkhart RV Dealer Open House in September.

Now, just four months later, it will reveal the new camper van to the public at the Florida RV SuperShow next week. The all-new Wave camper van returns the beloved Westfalia nameplate to American shores with a bang, bringing serious family-sized sleeping capacity, smart home controls and a flexible floor plan that offers plenty of space for both gear and people.

As much as the American market would really love for Westfalia's return to coincide with the launch of the VW ID. Buzz LWB, the French-owned German nameplate is moving more quickly and simply with an initial Ram Promaster offering.

The Promaster allows it to seamlessly capitalize on the long-running experience it and parent company Rapido Group have converting the Fiat Ducato over in Europe.

Not surprisingly, then, the new 249-in (633-cm) Westfalia Wave features a European-style floor plan filled with a more North American-influenced feature set. The main bed is in the rear, and Westfalia teases that it will be able to adapt between twin and queen sizes, offering a comfortable place for driver and navigator to sleep the night away. The Wave sleeps two more up front on a drop-and-fold dinette bed that extends over the swiveled driver's seat. Finally, the pop-up roof houses a third double bed to round out the six-sleeper setup.

The Wave's six-person sleeping capacity will be unique to Westfalia. The company's sister brand Roadtrek offers several five-sleeper pop-top camper van models with a traverse bed that rests across the front seats but does not offer a six-sleeper with the fast-folding front double bed. On the downside, the Wave only has four belted seats for the ride so won't be carrying all six people to camp.

During the day, the front dinette uses its dual-leaf expandable table to serve four people on the two-seat rear bench and swivel cab seats. Moving back on the driver's side, the wet bathroom compartment splits the dinette and bed. Across the aisle, the kitchen area houses a sink/propane stove combo, microwave, Vitrifrigo refrigerator and concealed slide-out countertop extension. A Truma Combi water heater/furnace unit supplies hot water to the kitchen tap and bathroom shower.

The rear bed lacks the side-folding action many European camper vans include, but it's still built to accommodate all sorts of gear and cargo. A central pass-through eats up boards and skis, while a slide-away section of the rear bed raises the cargo area height for loading taller items like bicycles in through the rear doors. Both solutions provide a more accessible, secure way of storing oft-expensive outdoor gear when compared to exterior racks, carriers and trailers.

We'll have to wait for next week's official debut for the full Wave spec sheet, but Westfalia does say that the van will include a tablet-style Firefly touchscreen command center, for more integrated, smart home-like control, a powerful 600-Ah lithium battery bank and a 3,000-W inverter.

Assuming those specs come standard, the Wave price tag is likely to shock the nomadic consumers who have been shopping decades-old Westfalia Vanagons and Eurovans, but the Ram Promaster underpinnings should at least make it less expensive than a comparable Sprinter or Ford Transit camper van. The Promaster underpins some of North America's cheapest full-size van campers, including the Winnebago's most affordable and Pleasure Way's Tofino.

Update 1/17/24: With the Florida RV SuperShow underway, Westfalia has announced pricing information for the new Wave models. The fixed-roof four-sleeper Wave Skylight starts atUS$155,333, and the Pop Top option tacks on $10,347 for a $165,680 base on the six-sleeper (four-seat) model.

Source: Westfalia Americas