A total of over 218,000 new motor caravans and caravans registered in Europe – third-best result ever

Caravanning is very much in vogue throughout Europe, and the high demand for recreational vehicles is keeping the industry’s order books well filled. However, the European new market for recreational vehicles recorded a 16.1 percent drop last year compared to the industry record set in 2021, with a total of 218,301 newly registered motor caravans and caravans representing the third-best figure ever. Considering the difficult circumstances, this is a remarkable result for the industry.

The European caravanning industry can look back on a turbulent 2022: Demand for motor caravans and caravans remained very high throughout Europe, giving companies a high order backlog. Nevertheless, at 218,301 vehicles, 16.1 percent fewer new registrations were registered. The reasons for this were faltering supply chains and pandemic-related staff shortages at European manufacturers. As a result, demand in Europe exceeded the supply of vehicles.

 

European market registers minus

Germany was again by far the largest market in 2022 in terms of share, with 90,985 leisure vehicles, even though registrations fell by 14.3 percent overall. The double-digit downward trend was reflected in all major sales markets: France, the second most important market, recorded a drop of 16.5 percent (31,941 units). The United Kingdom with 25,638 new registrations (-21.7 percent) and the Netherlands with 10,206 units (-13 percent) also reported significant declines.

The motor caravan segment in particular was unable to maintain the top level of previous years – despite strong demand: Germany, the largest sales market, reported 66,507 new registrations (-18.3 percent). It was followed by France with 24,611 new registrations and a drop of 20.2 percent. The United Kingdom, the third largest motor caravan market, was down more than 17 percent on the previous year with around 12,000 units.
New caravan registrations were somewhat more stable in comparison: At 24,478 units (-1 percent), Germany was roughly on a par with the previous year. French new registrations were 1.6 percent (7,330) below the 2021 figures. The overall picture is clouded above all by the significant declines in the United Kingdom, with around 14,000 units (-25 percent), and the Northern European markets of Norway (2,177 units (-18.8 percent)), Sweden (3,164 units (-18.2 percent)) and Denmark (2,260 units (-22.1 percent)).

“Difficulties in the production and delivery of leisure vehicles affected all European manufacturers and suppliers. The shortage of vehicle chassis stood out particularly in terms of negative impact. So we are not surprised that we did not set a new record for new registrations at European level. In the end, however, it still turned out to be the third-best result ever. This makes us optimistic for 2023,” says Jost Krüger, Secretary General of the European Caravan Federation (ECF).