One challenge that comes with RV and camper ownership is dealing with the size of your rig. You have to store your camper somewhere, and parking is not for the faint of heart. A French manufacturer thinks it has just the solution with a little pod that you tow behind a car that expands to almost triple its size at the touch of the button. And yes, you can have it in the United States.
Beauer is a fresh face in the RV world. It got its start in 2009 when engineer Eric Beau wanted a bigger camping trailer that looked like something from the 1960s. He didn’t find any that fit the bill, so he got to work making his own. The result is something pretty far out.
In 2011, Beauer hit trade shows with the 3X camping trailer. It’s a can-shaped camper that takes up a tiny footprint of space while on the road but expands with the touch of a button.
The 3X’s striking design and trick feature has been generating headlines for years. But until recently, they were a forbidden fruit here in the United States. Beauer has announced that the company has set up shop here in North America, so let’s see what you can get with this oddball camper.
Let’s get the coolest part of the way right now. This is a fully-furnished travel trailer that expands from the size of a small car into a 129-square foot living space for four.
It does this through a design similar to that of a telescope. All of the internal parts are positioned in a way that they can expand and retract without getting in the way of each other. The 12-foot-long camper expands from six feet wide to 15 feet wide in 60 seconds with the push of a button. Electric cylinders expand the camper, and the interior moves into place by itself.
The interior is modern, a sharp contrast to the vintage exterior. The central module is your kitchen, and it features a refrigerator, stove, sink and enough room for a microwave.
The port-side module is a living room featuring a wraparound bench and a table for five. This can be turned into a bed for two.
On the starboard-side module is a bedroom. This has a bed for two, a toilet and space for a shower, too. There’s a dividing wall between the bedroom and the rest of the trailer, so you can have some privacy for sleeping and for those mornings on the toilet.
Options include the aforementioned shower, along with a heater, air-conditioner, bicycle carrier and more. It also comes in at a light 2,095 pounds, so just about anything could tow it. I love the fact that it’s sized just right to fit into a parking space or inside of a garage. This is a camper that many won’t need to rent out a storage space for.
Beauer says that it has a United States distributor for these and that sales should have already started, so with time you might see one of these on the road. You can pick one up for $34,600 at current exchange rates before shipping.