Knaus Tabbert is adding some serious pop to its 202 “caravan utility vehicle” (CUV) camper vans. Its new pop-up roof combines clean ambient lighting, smart features like wireless induction charging and a panoramic window into the best room in the house. It’s an Instagram-primed penthouse just itching to get backed in oceanside for the type of views usually reserved for eight-figure homes.

The 2020 Knaus and Weinsberg Fiat Ducato CUV family has a variety of different floor plans, all with hard roofs. The new 2021 pop-top adds an attractive option for those who prefer a higher vantage point and breezier night of sleep. It also gives the two camper brands another tool in creating versatile, space-optimizing floor plans that sleep up to seven people. Knaus will offer the pop-top on a number of Boxlife and Boxstar camper van floor plans, while Weinsberg will integrate it into its CaraBus and CaraTour lines.

Knaus Tabbert

Wedge-style pop-up camper van roofs usually have windows on all three broad fabric sides, and Knaus makes the windows an even more central part of its pop-top by eliminating the opaque canvas between them. The resulting three-sided picture window wraps clean around the two front corners, helping erase the divide between inside and out.

During the day, the panoramic front window offers a wide-open view of the horizon, and at night it helps bring in the tireless twinkle of the star-loaded sky. Campers can zip the blackout shade closed to darken the interior, leave the mosquito mesh open, or unzip the mesh and enjoy a complete open-air terrace.

Knaus Tabbert

Inside, the Skyroof houses a 200 x 135-cm (79 x 53-in) ventilated mattress. Wraparound ambient lighting integrated into the ceiling edge provides a warm glow in the dark with multiple color options, while reading lamps shine direct light down. Heat vents direct warm air into the sleeper roof during frosty nights, while a roof window adds more cool airflow when needed. Individual trays on each side of the hatch to the main van give the two campers a place to store pocket essentials like smartphones, keys and small flashlights, and Knaus adds in both USB ports and wireless induction charging.

Knaus tabbert

The hard roof structure is made from a long fiber injection (LFI) process that Knaus says is new to this segment of the pop-up camper market. The process is meant to create a better optimized, sturdier fiber-reinforced-composite roof. On longer 600- and 630-cm (236 and 248-in) camper vans, the compact pop-up leaves open roof space behind it for a vent or roof-mounted A/C, which Knaus flanks with rails to create a continuous roofline when the pop-top is closed. The new pop-up roof lifts and closes easily by hand with help from the built-in struts and scissor lifts.

The impressive seven-sleeper Knaus Boxlife 630 ME is not currently listed as one of the MY2021 models slated for the pop-top option, but both the Knaus and Weinsberg websites mention sleeping for up to seven, so it looks like there will be at least two seven-person pop-up family camper van options in the CUV family. The extra ventilation from that big panoramic window should be particularly valuable when sleeping six or seven people inside a single van’s walls!

Knaus Tabbert

Knaus has not yet listed pricing or standard equipment details about 2021 pop-up CUV models, but current 2020 Knaus and Weinsberg CUV models have starting prices that range from the high €30s to the low €50s in Germany, depending upon size and floor plan. It’s unclear how the pop-top will affect that pricing, but we’ll keep our eye out for more details starting when Knaus Tabbert holds its Düsseldorf Caravan Salon press conference on September 3.

Source: Knaus Tabbert