Wild origami camper cube seizes command of your van to make it livable

When we first spotted the Italian brand "Cubivan" at the Düsseldorf Caravan Salon this past weekend, we assumed it was another in the burgeoning market of complete in-van camper pods, or maybe a boxy camper module built to go on top of a van chassis. Both guesses were kind of right, but neither quite prepared us for what the system really is. Not only does the camper box slide out the back of the van like others we've seen, it expands right down to the ground to create a sheltered space that lives in perfect symbiosis with the base van. It's then able to fit both a kitchen and wet bathroom and is complemented by a hard-sided rooftop pod that completes the feeling that your vehicle has been commandeered by some form of industrial being ... but a kind one there to serve. The video that kicks into gear the second you land on Cubivan's website starts off pretty normally. The small van pulls to a stop and lifts up its tailgate. The Cubivan Camping System (CCS) unit then slides out, much like other rear-integrated camper van expansion pods we've seen over the years, all the way back to the Volkswagen DoubleBack we looked at in 2012. The fully deployed tailgate module has a sideways T shapeCC Weiss/New Atlas But then, the expanding action doesn't stop. Instead, after the CCS has extended fully outward, separate upper and lower modules expand the outer insulated fiber-reinforced plastic shell to a standing height of 1.9 m (6.2 ft), dropping the floor right down to ground level. Inside, meanwhile, the kitchen block rotates into place against the wall and the toilet emerges from a lower cabinet to complete the functional room. Along with the slide-out toilet compartment, the main kitchen block houses a stove and sink. The fridge, meanwhile, is located in the thinner section inside the van - the base of the sideways "T," if you will. The fridge is located inside the upper moduleCC Weiss/New Atlas The video makes it look like an automated design with electric actuation, but Cubivan founder Florian Haller told us in Düsseldorf that it's manual, a matter of various cranks and strut-assisted openings helping the owner set it in place without any uncomfortable heavy lifting. We initially assumed the CCS was pulling camper equipment out of the van and into a separate hard-walled outer room in a bid to make space for a bed in the front of the van. We were wrong once again – time for us to stop guessing and assuming about this particular system. Instead, Cubivan's complete add-on camper setup hoists sleeping accommodations up onto the roof in a separate hard-sided pod.. The rooftop pod folds flat for the ride, then expands into a four-walled super-king-size bedroom with 200 x 200-cm (79 x 79-in) mattress. Cubivan's rooftop camper solution offers four hard walls, plenty of space and an oversized king mattressCC Weiss/New Atlas At this point, the Cubivan system has essentially turned your modest MPV into a fixed living space that isn't moving anywhere until you break it all down. But it does slide, swivel and fold back into travel form fairly quickly and easily, bringing you right back to the base van's original footprint when traveling between camping stops. While the Cubivan camper roof essentially replaces the stock van roof and must then remain in place, the kitchen/bathroom module is designed to be easily removed and stored after the camping trip is over, freeing up the full number of seats and load area. The van can then go right back to daily driving. Haller told us us that Cubivan is still in the process of getting homologation for its integrated roof design, but plans call for the roof to be a proper camper pop-top with interior access and standing height space in the van below. The roof will then pack down to stand just 10 cm (3.9 in) higher than the base van. For now, the roof is fixed on a separate base more like a rooftop tent so as to keep it legal to drive on the street. We don't generally like designs that put the toilet inside or next to the kitchen – kind of a "wet kitchen" in this case, which just sounds all types of wrong. However, Haller mentioned that the kitchen module picks up and moves to the interior of the unit next to the fridge, clearing out the shower room. You could then use the portable toilet, as well as the shower, inside the free 90 x 95-cm (35 x 37-in) floor area. The Cubivan Camping System is more than just the usual slide-out camper expansion moduleCC Weiss/New Atlas The two-part CCS does seem a little over-engineered for those looking to save money and gain flexibility in going with a modular camper kit in place of a hard conversion, but it definitely goes above and beyond much of the competition in offering a complete wet bathroom, something lacking in the typical camper-in-a-box system. And it's a hard-walled room to boot, not just a tent. Kudos to Haller for that outside-the-box thinking, literally and figuratively. On the downside, the design does introduce a number of extra moving parts (i.e. potential failure points) in comparison to simpler in-vehicle modular camping systems. It's well more expensive than basic camper-in-a-box solutions but in line with full slide-in camper floor plans with bathrooms like the American-market Hunker we looked at a few weeks ago. Cubivan intends to launch the CCS in 2027 for a price somewhere between €22,000 and 25,000 (approx. US$25,550 and 29,050) for the complete system with bathroom/kitchen module and hard-sided pop-up roof pod. It will also offer the two parts independently, with the lower module falling somewhere between an estimated €16,000 and 17,000 ($18,600 and $19,750) and the foldaway camper roof between €7,000 and 8,000 ($8,150 and 9,300). Beyond the Volkswagen ID. Buzz aboard which Cubivan showed its system at the Caravan Salon, the complete CCS setup will be available for other small vans, including the Ford Tourneo Custom, Volkswagen Caravelle and Mercedes Vito. It was still very much an in-development prototype in Düsseldorf,, but we'll report back when additional specs and information have been finalized.Source: Cubivan