Nissan keeps the factory camper vans coming. Its newest is built atop its smallest van, the Clipper kei van, which measures in under 3.4 meters (11.2 feet) long. To make it a micro-camper, Nissan relies on a basic household staple with which everyday DIY handymen have been familiar for ages: pegboard. The van's integrated peg panels serve as a simple, affordable means of holding up the bed and providing highly versatile storage organization for related (and unrelated) outdoor adventures.
If you're not familiar with the Clipper name but feel like you've seen its puggish face before, that's likely because it's a rebadged Suzuki Every, another Japanese kei van that pops up occasionally in micro-camper and tiny off-roader guise.
The Clipper is the smallest van in Nissan's domestic commercial vehicle lineup, sitting below the NV200 that's still on offer in Japan, long after being discontinued in the US and Europe. The Clipper was previously called the NV100 Carry, numbering it neatly as the smallest in a van family that also includes the Caravan (NV350). Nissan shortened it to just Clipper Van in 2024.
We've seen Nissan offer various camper packages and concepts for the two larger Japanese-market vans, and now it's advertising one as part of a Clipper refresh it announced this month. The package was developed by Nissan's Motorsports & Customizing arm NMC and is technically more of a sleeper kit than a full camper van. In fact, the bed isn't even the most critical part of the package, which NMC calls the "Multi-Rack" after the quartet of custom pegboard panels that line the insides of the D-pillars.
Unlike the pegboard that you, your father and his father before him might have used or still use to organize all manners of tools, hardware and accessories in the garage, basement, shed, home workshop or all of the above, the pegboard panels in this case don't use simple rows of holes but a more proprietary design with cross-shaped cutouts surrounded by round holes. They ultimately function the same, though, serving as a fast, simple attachment interface for various hooks and brackets that can then be used for hanging gear directly or hanging and creating more complex layouts.
The available 5-cm-thick (2-in) multi-piece mattress sets up atop longitudinal support beams that secure to the pegboard. Finished with a rugged, water-repellent Cordura exterior shell fabric, that mattress fills out the entirety of the tiny Clipper's rear cabin behind the front seats, offering a sleeping area of 180 x 117 cm (71 x 46 in). The support bars adjust to four different heights, letting users dial it in exactly what's most comfortable for them.
The Multi-Rack variant also comes with a stain-resistant load area floor and is designed to double as an effective tiny adventurer, DIY transporter, everyday bag carrier and all-around cargo workhorse. The pegboard in this case doubles to hold in place various hanging and storage accessories for carrying fishing rods, tools, camping gear and more. The collapsed mattress can double as a shelf for splitting the storage area into two separate spaces.
Below, you see how Nissan transforms the Clipper into a bicycle shuttle and micro-workshop, using the pegboard and its accompanying brackets to hold tools and accessories while carrying two bicycles via a fork mounting system secured directly to the floor.
The Clipper commercial cargo van that serves as the basis of the Multi-Rack kit and the Clipper Rio light passenger van have also received tech updates as part of the minor refresh. An improved driver assistance suite now packages standard lane departure prevention, traffic sign recognition, intelligent emergency braking, and pedal misapplication collision prevention. The adorable pint-sized vans also get a modest facelift with redesigned front bumper and black grille and side mirror caps.
Nissan isn't the first to think of creating a pegboard camper conversion, as Austria's Cargo Clips is another company that's used it to impressive effect, but we like how it manages to wring loads of versatility out of such a tiny, affordable van.
The Multi-Rack package can be ordered for the high-roof Clipper Van in GX or GX Turbo trims, each of which features Suzuki's 658cc R06A three-cylinder engine with a continuously variable transmission. It's available in both 2WD and part-time selectable 4WD varieties. Pricing starts at an absolutely delightful ¥2,238,500 (US$14,075).
