German campervan manufacturer, Westfalia, opens new factory

Westfalia, the pioneering German campervan manufacturer has opened a second factory in Germany to meet the growing demand for campervans across Europe

Westfalia Mobil, the German campervan manufacturer, has opened a new production facility in Gotha Germany, which joins its existing facility in Rheda-Wiedenbrück.

Westfalia is owned by the French motorhome manufacturing giant, Rapido, and produces campervans under its own name as well as for automotive OEM companies Ford and Mercedes-Benz.

Mercedes-Benz has just launched its Marco-Polo campervan, which is built by Westfalia exclusively for Mercedes, onto the UK market.

Production at the two plants will eventually be split, with Gotha building all Westfalia's own campervans and Rheda-Wiedenbrück building campervans for OEM manufacturers.

"The last years have been extremely successful for Westfalia Mobil. We achieved high increases for our own product range (products that are sold through Westfalia’s own dealer network) as well as for the OEM products (products we build for partners like Mercedes-Benz and Ford)," explained Mike Reuer, the company's MD.

"In order to continue on this path of growth for both parts of the business, we need the new production capabilities
in Gotha."

The new factory has around 6,000 square metres of floor space and allows for  more expansion in the future if required. It will employ between 50 and 60 people in the first full year of business, who between them will build some 1,000 campervans per
year in Gotha.

The Gotha plant is already building Westfalia's Amundsen 540 campervan and production of other models will move from Rheda-Wiedenbrück to Gotha in a step-by-step process.

"We expect to produce the whole range of our own models in Gotha in about a year from now," said Mr Reuer. "Production in Rheda-Wiedenbrück will continue at the same time. We will use free capacities there for our OEM
products, which will stay in Rheda-Wiedenbrück. Due to excellent forecasts from our OEM partners we expect the number of employees there to rise as well."