News

New registrations of motorhomes and caravans rose in Germany during the first quarter of 2021, despite a difficult business environment, according to the latest report from the Caravaning Industrie Verband (CIVD). An increase of an impressive 12.6 per cent was made to more than 24,000 vehicles registered, a figure greatly helped by a strong March with growth of over 40 per cent. 

As well as the obvious challenges of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the German is industry is facing other challenges such as an increase in VAT and the closure of several major motor vehicle dealerships due to the tough trading environment. These issues have had different effects on different parts of the market in Germany. Between January and March, they fell by a total of 15.6 per cent (5,166 units) compared to the very good result for the same period last year. New motor caravan registrations, on the other hand, rose by an impressive 23.9 per cent to 19,058 vehicles – a record for the first quarter. 

A decisive contribution to the strong first quarter was made by a huge increase last month – plus 40.5 per cent compared to March 2020. Both vehicle segments developed extremely positively. New registrations of motor caravans shot up by 52.4 per cent to 10,801 units and caravan registrations also increased by a very good 10.5 per cent (3,120 units). In total, this makes 13,921 newly registered leisure vehicles and means a new all-time best for the month of March.

Daniel Onggowinarso, managing director of CIVD, said: “The business environment has not been particularly favourable so far this year, so we are all the more pleased that new registrations have turned so strongly upwards again in March.

“Demand was already at record levels in previous years, but has been given an additional push by the Corona pandemic. That’s due to the fact that, with a caravan or motor caravan, one can travel individually, self-sufficiently and, thus, with little contact to other people. This makes caravanning one of the safest forms of holiday in these times. We, therefore, urgently hope for a clear opening strategy and perspective for caravanning tourism in Germany.”