Best Motorhome Innovation
The judges have seen some amazing design features and technical enhancements in motorhomes over the years and, this season, they continued to be surprised and delighted by the designers' incredible innovations
Best Motorhome Innovation 2026
Truma CombiNeo
Modern motorhomes have all the convenience of home but one aspect that’s had an effect on almost every model is that you have to be very parsimonious with hot water when having a shower.
With more and more owners eschewing expensive campsites for more basic off-grid camping, that issue was only going to rise in importance. We can thank Truma, already the market leader in motorhome heating, for addressing the problem.
In its 75-year history it has supplied over six million heaters to the leisure industry, developed the first caravan/motorhome heater and the first combi heating/boiler unit.
This year, it launched the CombiNeo, not simply an updated Combi but a clean sheet design that shares not a single screw with its forebear (which continues in production).
The CombiNeo made its world debut in Auto-Sleepers’ updated Fiat-based range, launched last February, and has since been adopted by a number of other manufacturers, including Auto-Trail (Expedition coachbuilts and Imala), Swift (Trekker coachbuilts and Voyager) and Frankia (Now), as well as upmarket campervan brands, IH and Vantage.
The USP of the CombiNeo is that it provides continuous hot water, so you can now stay in a nice warm shower in your motorhome for as long as its fresh water supply lasts.
It takes just three minutes to heat the boiler’s first six litres to 40 degrees for dish washing, or eight minutes to be ready for showering (that’s using gas or hybrid modes – shower heat takes 12 minutes on 230V only).
Once you’ve heated those initial six litres, the CombiNeo’s clever patented system of baffles inside forces cold water coming in via a very narrow capillary pipe system through the heat exchanger, so water is entering the tank pre-warmed.
The CombiNeo is available, like the existing Combi, in 4kW and 6kW gas versions, but on 230V it has 1kW, 2kW and 3kW settings (an increased output, with lower power options when a campsite’s supply is more limited).
In hybrid mode (offering up to 7kW of heat), the unit will stop using gas once it can rely solely on electricity and Truma says the 3kW setting should allow electric-only use for three seasons of the year. The new heater is also compatible with the existing iNet X control panel and app.
A further advantage of the CombiNeo is less weight, reducing the vehicle's MRO (mass in running order) by around 6kg. It is also more compact (especially in height), so it can be fitted anywhere that a current Combi will go (so no expensive redesigning of vehicles is required).
View the rest of the awards
The Motorhome Awards are presented to the very best models for the coming year to help you make the right buying decision for your next new motorhome.
We are delighted to reveal the 2026 winners plus the overall winner of 2026.
