Westfalia Is Back In America After Nearly 20 Years With The New Wave Camper Van

The Class B RV, also known as the humble camper van, has been enjoying renewed popularity in America in recent years. People who want an RV but don’t want to tow a travel trailer or invest in a large motorhome have found the camper van to be a sweet spot. Class B RVs are so popular right now that people who don’t camp may have heard of “vanlife” and big names like Ford are flirting with the space. Now, after a nearly two-decade hiatus, one of the most recognizable names in camper vans is coming back to America. Later this year, you will be able to buy a Westfalia van once again with the Wave. Let’s check this six-person sleeper out.

A pre-production prototype of the Westfalia van made an appearance at the closed-to-the-public Indiana RV Open House back in September. Unfortunately, the media at the RV Open House was put on a tight schedule, and I never saw Westfalia while trying to speedrun the event with the time I had. Now, the van has a name and it will be making its first public appearance at the Florida RV SuperShow next week. You bet I will be right there to give you a tour of the return of this fabled brand.

This new Westfalia Americas effort will not be based on a Volkswagen or Mercedes-Benz product as it was in the past, but on the Ram ProMaster. I think this is a good idea and we’ll touch on that in a bit.

Why This Is A Big Deal

Westfalia’s American operations began winding down in the 2000s. Back in 1999, DaimlerChrysler purchased a 49 percent stake in Westfalia before taking a 51 percent controlling share in 2001. Until 2003, Americans could buy a Volkswagen EuroVan MV Weekender, which featured one of Westfalia’s iconic pop-tops. When the EuroVan was discontinued, DaimlerChrysler carried the Westfalia torch in America. In the mid-2000s, Westfalia vans were built on the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter platform, badged as the Dodge Sprinter Westfalia, and sold through Airstream dealerships. In Europe, they were sold under the name James Cook.

I could not find any official press release, but owners of Mercedes-based Westys began finding out about the discontinuation of Westfalia in America in 2006. Reportedly, Airstream moved only a couple hundred of the Sprinter Westfalias before calling it quits. So, this return comes about 18 years since those dark days for American Westfalia fans.

Let’s talk about why Westfalia is so famous in the first place. Westfalia says its story began in 1844, when on October 1 of that year, Johann Bernhard Knöbel started a forge in Wiedenbrück, Germany. At first Knöbel’s shop built and repaired farming equipment and carriages. In 1876, Knöbel built a horse-drawn carriage of his own design meant to carry goods from train depots.

Knöbel turned this into a family business, passing it down to sons Wilhelm and Franz. The second son, Franz, opened his own company in 1887 that manufactured coaches, harnesses, hunting carriages, and sledges. By 1918, Franz Knöbel had developed a powered coach and in 1922, the name “Westfalia” made its first appearance in Germany. Later, his company would construct open-box trailers.

Perhaps the most important invention in the history of Westfalia, one that’s arguably more important than the Volkswagen camper, came in 1931.

Franz Knöbel saw the ball socket joint of a chicken bone and used it as the inspiration to invent a towbar. Today, Westfalia claims to have invented the first towbar that, today, is a tool found attached to so many tow vehicles. Westfalia would become famous 20 years later for its new “Camping Box,” from Westfalia:

The history of Westfalia conversions began in 1951 with one customer’s special wish. When Westfalia in Wiedenbrück created the so-called “Camping Box”, especially designed for an officer in the British Forces stationed in Germany, he had a simple request: equip a VW transit van as a home. This had to be neatly built into the vehicle and at the same time had to be suitable as a room for sleeping, living and working. So the people at Westfalia took a VW bus, installed a double door between the B and C columns and built in multi-purpose furniture and decoration behind the front seats. For example pretty ruffled curtains which matched the checked pattern of the furniture. A real zeitgeist combination. A studio couch, folding table, seat bench, roll-front cabinet and sideboard completed the interior ensemble. The result was such a success that the Camping Box soon went into series production and the converted VW Bus became the dream car of the 50s, because it was multifunctional and could be used as a hotel on wheels.

It should be noted that Westfalia did not invent the camper van. The history of camping vehicles goes back to the 1800s! However, what Westfalia did was thrust the idea of camping in a van into the public consciousness. And Westfalia’s conversions of Volkswagen Transporter vans made it easy.

From that point forward, Westfalia became a brand known for its camping innovations. In the 1960s, Westfalia was a pioneer in building plastic RV furniture and its style included the fake wood veneers that are so common in RVs today. The Westfalia pop-top was also an invention of the 1960s. This is the era that Westfalia says it gained popularity in the United States, too.

In 1977, Westfalia introduced the very first Mercedes-Benz James Cook, a camper van named after the 18th-century explorer of the same name. Westfalia sees the James Cook as a notable mark in its history as it elevated comfort, luxury, and safety while adding a wet cell, so campers could clean up in their vans. The Sven Hedin came the same year, and it offered a high roof, a shower, and hot water.

Westfalia continued to innovate over the years and it partnered up with Ford, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen for camper vans. It also made the weird BMW Multi-Trailer. When Westfalia left America, it continued its business in Europe, continuing to slap its name on camper vans from Mercedes and Volkswagen. In 2009, it began conversions of Fiat vans, too.

The Westfalia Wave

That brings us to today. Westfalia is coming back to America by way of Canadian RV firm Roadtrek. In 2019, France-based RV conglomerate Rapido Group purchased Roadtrek. Rapido already owned Westfalia since 2011, so Roadtrek gave Westfalia an easy way to get back into America, just as Airstream did in the mid-2000s.

The Westfalia Wave is based on a Ram ProMaster 3500, a van 20′ 9″ in length. Westfalia already builds camper vans out of these vans in Europe, where they’re badged as the Fiat Ducato. Using the Ducato/ProMaster as a base vehicle is a good idea. These vans have low, flat floors and ProMaster-based conversions tend to be more affordable than the ones riding on Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans.

Westfalia will be producing these vans with a familiar interior layout and hopefully with the European style and fit and finish the German brand is known for. The layout is a common European-inspired one, featuring a bed in the rear, a wet bath in the center, a galley across from that, and a dinette plus seating up front. Of course, you’ll also get the important pop-top on the roof. Some neat Westfalia tricks include an extension of the dinette table to cover those sitting in the front seats, which swivel. The kitchen also has a slide-out countertop for more space.

Westfalia says that the rear bed area is adaptable, offering up seating, storage, and bed configurations including a twin, a double, or a queen. That storage comes in the form of cubbies under steps, alcoves, and side pockets. Westfalia will also be offering implements to carry large objects such as paddle boards and mountain bikes. That part is clever and involves a central pass-through for the bed area for skis and such while a section of the bed raises so you can fit in bicycles or other large items.

Equipment will include a Truma Combi furnace and water heater system, a propane cooktop, a Vitrifrigo refrigerator, a microwave, and a cassette toilet in the wet bath. House power comes from 600 Ah of lithium batteries and a 3,000-watt inverter. Control of the electrical systems will come from a Firefly Integrations tablet.

You get all of this plus sleeping for six. Currently, Roadtrek pop-top vans sleep up to five, but the Westfalia vans distributed under the brand will have unique Westfalia interiors. How Westfalia achieved it is with a folding double bed that covers the dinette area and the driver seat. Combine this bed with the one in the rear and the one in the pop-top and the Westy can sleep six, provided you’re all at least pretty close friends. However, the van comes with only four seatbelts, so, realistically, it’s good sleeping for four people. Otherwise, you can have a couple of guests at camping stops.

Power in the Westfalia Wave will come from a 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 offering up 276 horses and 250 lb-ft of torque. Westfalia is withholding additional information for now, so we do not know any holding tank capacities, the van’s price, or how much gear you can carry. Promotional images do show a tow hitch, so you should be able to haul additional gear or a trailer.

At least in pictures, it looks like a winner of a camper van. Some companies will charge you well over $100,000, or even over $200,000 for vans with unappealing interiors and rough quality. It looks like the Westfalia Wave may have the quality down, now we’ll have to see if the brand can hit the mark on pricing.

Westfalia says it’s currently building out a dealership network. Then, the vans will be released into American hands. I’ll be there at the public reveal next week, taking a tour of the van and getting you the information Westfalia hasn’t provided just yet. Hopefully, this time Westfalia is here to stay.

(Images: Westfalia, unless otherwise noted.)