Campervan

Often the campers that leave the biggest impressions are the smallest vehicles of the pack. This year's CMT show had an intriguing collection of mini-campervans, tiny trailers, and conversion kits for smaller vehicles.

This month, La Strada premiered the new flagship of its Sprinter fleet, the Nova EB. Above and beyond a simple van conversion, the Nova is a Class B+ motorhome with a single hunk of weatherproof fiberglass opening up spacious living accommodations.

It's been at least eight years in the making, but we've finally got a sneak peek at the first Romotow fold-out caravan, with its crazy-stylish rotating cabin and built-in sun deck. It's bang-on with the concept renders and production starts soon.

On a mission to create a lighter, more versatile family camper van, Rocket Camper launched one of the buzziest vans at the CMT show. Solutions like a pulley-lift bed and deconstructed indoor/outdoor bathroom kept the crowds swarming.

French company Beauer has earned a lot of attention over the years for its telescoping teardrop caravans. Now the company's bringing its tech to van life, launching a plug-and-play module that expands the size of a camper van.

With #vanlife shining a spotlight on camper vans, manufacturers have been moving conversions upmarket, creating vans that look and live like larger motorhomes. Affinity's version has convertible bunk beds and a bedroom with en suite bathroom.

Queensize debuted with one of the weirdest camper vans ever, but now it's coming back down to Earth. Its new Inside Two VW van supports everyone from rootless adventurers to road-bound coworkers with a smart transforming kitchen and toilet room.

The RV world reached new heights in the 2010s, laying the groundwork for a bigger decade to come. Camper concepts we saw over the decade showed an industry ready to apply the latest technologies in creating smarter, more luxurious, more stylish RVs.

The van life trend showed no signs of pulling back this year. In fact, 2019 was a pivotal year that saw camper vans growing smarter, more practical and more efficient with some impressive technological breakthroughs and design innovations.

The VW California continues to capture imaginations, but it's other camper vans with origins in Westphalia now pushing the envelope. The Mercedes Marco Polo becomes the smartest small camper van on autobahns, gaining new smart home-style control.

The US may not have Europe's market of affordable, mass-produced camper vans, but it holds its own in off-grid vans custom-built around adventure sports. Many are focused on summer, but Titan offers a Sprinter year-rounder built for ski/surf bums.

Earlier this year, Ford announced plans to launch the 2020 Transit AWD van. The masters of modularity at VanDoIt become the first Americans to offer a Transit AWD camper van, expanding their flexible adventure van lineup with the new LIV van.