When we last interviewed Alexander Leopold, CEO of the Erwin Hymer Group, the European RV industry was still riding the wave of post-pandemic momentum. Order books were full, inventories were low, and the biggest concerns were related to supply chain disruptions and production bottlenecks. Just one year later, the situation has changed significantly — but not necessarily for the worse. In this new conversation, we catch up with Alexander Leopold to understand how EHG is navigating today’s more complex environment. Dealer stock levels, production slowdowns, product innovation, leadership culture, electrification, and even the role of the holding company in supporting brand agility are all on the table. His message is clear: the sector is not in crisis — it is in transformation. And in times of transformation, what matters most is vision, flexibility, and the courage to make hard but necessary decisions. A frank and timely conversation from one of the most important voices in the global RV industry.

 
Aboutcamp BtoB − After several intense years, the European recreational vehicle market is now entering a more cautious phase. Campervans remain stable, semi-integrated models are growing again, urban campers are seeing a sharp decline, and the caravan segment continues to lose ground. How is EHG rethinking its product offering in response to these trends?
Alexander Leopold − When we look at the registration data, we focus on a rolling 12-month period to get a clearer view of the market. The camper van segment has shown strong growth in recent years, although it’s currently stabilizing. This aligns with our long-term strategy to strengthen our presence in this segment, and today, many of our brands offer a wide range of camper vans. As a result, we are now the leading player in Europe for camper vans, with a market share of around 25%, and we believe there is still room for growth. In the motorhome segment, we have noticed a shift in demand towards more affordable products. We therefore made the decision to expand our offering in our best-price segment and to launch the Corigon brand. While we already have several brands in this segment, we identified regions and dealers across Europe that don’t yet represent any EHG brand. We believe that minimizing the physical distance between customers and dealers increases brand attractiveness. That’s the rationale behind Corigon: to serve new areas with a dedicated dealer network and avoid overlap with our existing brands — ultimately expanding our market share. The caravan segment, on the other hand, has been in long-term decline, aside from a temporary boost during COVID. It’s unclear whether we’ve reached the bottom yet, but it’s still a significant market with over 50,000 units sold annually in Europe. Despite limited growth prospects, caravans remain an important part of our strategy. We’re adapting by managing costs and ensuring we meet the needs of this customer group, even if the segment weakens further over time.

Aboutcamp BtoB − The urban camper segment seems to be struggling according to recent figures. What is your view? Was it just a temporary trend — something that flared up and is now disappearing — or do you still believe in its potential?
Alexander Leopold − I don’t think it’s disappearing. When I entered the industry over ten years ago, the urban camper segment was dominated by a few car manufacturers who either did the conversions themselves or outsourced them. We saw potential as RV manufacturers to enter this space, although we were dependent on the base vehicle prices — and the conversion work is quite limited compared to a full motorhome. Initially, this was a win-win situation. Carmakers realized we weren’t competitors, as we serve different customer groups — they target car enthusiasts, we speak to campers. But COVID changed everything: vehicle prices increased dramatically, and so did ours. This resulted in a decline of demand. Most of our brands stopped producing urban campers because they simply became too expensive. Now, we’ve restarted production with Crosscamp. The viability of the segment depends heavily on price. If we can offer an attractive price, the market is there for us. And that brings me to an important point: as an industry, we must offer affordable entry products. I’m convinced the RV world remains highly attractive, but not every new customer can or wants to spend €70,000 to 80,000 on their first vehicle. The whole package must be attractive for younger age groups. Millennials have different expectations when it comes to products, purchases and travel. They value digital tools, immersive technologies, and new forms of interaction — you have to live up to these expectations.

Aboutcamp BtoB − At MELVI 2025, Hubert Brandl explained how Niesmann+Bischoff achieved greater efficiency and customer satisfaction by radically simplifying its product range. We understand that Bürstner has taken a similar path. Given EHG’s broad and diverse portfolio, are you also considering simplification or rationalization in other business units?
Alexander Leopold − Bürstner – under the new management team – quickly recognized the urgency of transformation. They didn’t wait, they acted immediately. And what they’ve shown is how fast and effective such a process can be when the leadership team and the entire organization are aligned and committed. Reducing complexity lowers effort and cost – but the key question is always: are you still meeting customer expectations? If done smartly, simplification can lead to a better product offering for customers and dealers, easier operations for internal teams and suppliers, and even higher product quality. Of course, this kind of change demands strong leadership. You need to identify supporters and opponents of the transformation and engage both. Sometimes we have to make difficult choices, including changes in the management team. The new Bürstner leadership team took necessary decisions as well – and they also built a solid relationship with the Works Council, which is essential in many companies in Germany. As a result, the whole organization is now more focused and energized – and dealers are on board as well. Leading in such a phase means rethinking long-held assumptions – even if you’ve been in the industry for 20 years. You have to challenge your own way of thinking. I belief in the saying: “If you keep doing things the way you`ve done them for the last ten years, there’s a high chance you’re doing them wrong today.” I think that’s very true. Transformation also takes courage — the courage to question established routines, take calculated risks, and define a new path forward. That’s what we try to teach also our young leaders: how to build a vision, translate it into strategy, and define clear measures to achieve it. And as a leader, you must be able to set ambitious, aspirational goals – what we call stretch goals. I’ve made great experiences with such stretch goals. But, coming back to your question, that doesn’t mean every EHG brand will follow Bürstner’s exact approach. Each company has its own situation, challenges and growth opportunities. I believe many companies in our industry will need transformation – but not all of them need the same type of transformation. That’s the real challenge: understanding what kind of change is right for your specific context and – of highest importance – future positioning.

Aboutcamp BtoB − EHG has taken important steps to harmonize platforms and foster collaboration across its brands. At the same time, you’ve maintained strong brand autonomy. How do you strike the right balance between efficiency and flexibility today? And how is product innovation organized within the group?
Alexander Leopold − Each of our brands is fully responsible for its product strategy, design, and overall range. Of course, we provide a general framework — we’ve organized our portfolio by price segments (best price, best price-value, and best value) and by target groups, like adventurers, harmonizers, or traditionalists. But within that framework, the brands operate independently. They don’t need approval from the holding company to develop a new product — it’s their responsibility. That said, a collaborative culture has evolved within the group. The brands have seen that working together — for example, sharing costs or developing standardized components — brings real advantages. Especially for efficiency. When it comes to innovation, we take a tailored approach. In the best-price segment, cost is the priority, so we don’t expect groundbreaking innovations there. But in the higher segments — best price-value and best value — innovation is essential, as these products need to justify a higher price point. Each brand is responsible for driving its own innovation strategy. To support this, we created the Innovation Camp — a small, agile team that works directly with the brands. The brands take the lead: they request support from the Innovation Camp when needed, for example in exploring sustainable materials, new interior concepts, or space-optimization ideas. The advantage of the Innovation Camp is that they’re not involved in day-to-day operations. Being physically and organizationally separate gives them the freedom to think creatively and focus on longer-term developments — ideas that might become relevant two, three, or four years down the road. The goal is to generate bold but customer-driven concepts, not innovation for its own sake.

Aboutcamp BtoB − At MELVI 2025, many speakers emphasized the need for agility in product development — shorter lead times, less internal bureaucracy, and a greater willingness to take risks. How would you assess EHG’s agility today? What are you doing to support faster decision-making and more responsive operations?
Alexander Leopold − To be agile, you need decision-making power exactly where products are designed and developed. That’s why, as a group, we don’t interfere in our brands’ product development processes. They’re fully responsible for their own timelines and innovations. There’s no bureaucracy that slows them down — they don’t need to come to the holding for approval, unless significant investment in tools is involved, and even then, our approval processes are quick and efficient. Some brands are already very fast and responsive. Others still have work to do to reduce time-to-market — but you’ll see at the next Caravan Salon Düsseldorf that our brands are bringing many new and innovative products. They understand the importance of agility. I fully agree with the message from MELVI: the world is changing, and we’re going through a transformation. Speed is a competitive advantage, and we’re investing in tools to support that — especially digitalization and AI. These technologies help us accelerate our processes, but they only work if the underlying processes are already lean. If you digitize a flawed or inefficient process, it doesn’t help — you just make the inefficiency faster. That’s why we emphasize lean thinking first. Then we apply digital tools and AI to gain further speed. This is also one of our strengths as a group: we’ve built a strong AI team at the holding level, and we collaborate closely with talented, enthusiastic AI experts within the brands. Together, they’re developing use cases that make a real difference in how we work. Of course, there’s always a balance between standardization and flexibility. Sometimes standardization brings huge benefits — but in other cases, it can slow you down or reduce adaptability. We’re careful about this trade-off. Our rule is simple: we only standardize when the benefits clearly outweigh the costs — in speed, efficiency, or scalability.

Below: Bürstner Habiton 2025 Rendering by StudioSyn

Aboutcamp BtoB − The past few years have seen growing tension between OEMs and suppliers over costs, margins, and responsibilities. Has the relationship model between manufacturers and suppliers reached a turning point? What kind of partnership do you believe is needed to ensure a healthy future for both sides?
Alexander Leopold − To build a more resilient and competitive business, we need to take greater ownership of our technical requirements. We started investing more in our own R&D to develop internal component specifications — in other words, we now define exactly what we need in terms of performance, materials, and dimensions. Thanks to our in-house test center, we’ve learned a lot about the technical behavior and durability of our components, so we’re able to make precise specifications and well-informed decisions. This gives us the freedom to look for the best supplier for each specification. Suppliers who meet our price, quality and sustainability criteria will find us a strong and reliable partner. For those who do not, I have a clear message: we maintain our partnerships, but not at any price.

Aboutcamp BtoB − Overstock has been — and in some cases still is — a challenge in many European markets. How has EHG supported its dealer network in managing this situation?
Alexander Leopold − This situation hasn’t come as a surprise to us — not at all. Unlike some market players who were caught off guard, we anticipated this development early on. That’s thanks to a strong monitoring system we’ve put in place: we track dealer stock levels almost on a daily basis and have a clear view of where the market is heading. Because of that visibility, we were able to take early action. We scaled back production at certain facilities and maintained close communication with our dealers. We identified which partners might face difficulties and provided support — not only by reducing inventory inflow but also through targeted digital marketing initiatives to help them boost sales. Ultimately, it’s about having the right data, defining the right strategy, and implementing the right measures at the right time. This has enabled us to manage the situation proactively rather than reactively. But finally, it’s not only about having a professional monitoring system in place. It needs proper decisions of the management team to be “ahead of the wave” and not getting caught under it.

Aboutcamp BtoB − At the recent ECF meeting in Bern, there was a strong call for better coordination among manufacturers, suppliers, and dealers to avoid market imbalances like overstock. What has EHG learned from the past two years, and what steps are you taking to build a more resilient and better-aligned ecosystem?
Alexander Leopold − First, I would like to say that it could have been worse. We were not surprised by the current situation — we saw it coming and started taking action months ago. I know some other players in the market also reacted. But if no one had responded early, the situation would be far more critical. Right now, it’s still manageable — exactly as we anticipated. What helped us was preparation and structure. When you manage a large, multi-brand group like EHG, operating across price segments and customer profiles, you need a clear plan and rhythm to maintain alignment. Every year, we hold a group-wide strategy meeting with all our brands to align and, if needed, revise our strategic direction. We also run annual budget reviews and monthly performance reviews to share data across the group in real time. This process gives us a much more comprehensive view of the market. By aggregating and analyzing the data from all our brands, we can provide valuable insights that help each of them make better decisions. Often, a brand’s perception changes once they see the full picture across the group. That shared intelligence is a huge advantage. Looking at the broader industry. This is where meetings like the ECF or national association gatherings play a vital role. They provide a platform for developing a shared understanding of market conditions. Once that common ground is established, each manufacturer can take the measures they believe are appropriate.

Aboutcamp BtoB − During a slowdown, if one manufacturer cuts production but another does not, the dealer network still suffers — and the impact is shared. So even if the overstock wasn’t your fault, it becomes your problem. Do you think the industry should aim for more coordination to protect the whole ecosystem?
Alexander Leopold − You are right. Even if the issue originates elsewhere, we all feel the consequences. But that’s how the market works. Exchange is possible within the legally permissible framework. For us as a manufacturer, the Caravanning Industry Association Germany (CIVD) and the European Caravanning Federation (ECF) are the right platform for representing common interests and supporting initiatives such as the recent EU driving license amendment.

Aboutcamp BtoB − I’m pressing on this because dealers often ask: why aren’t manufacturers communicating more? Why isn’t there a joint strategy?
Alexander Leopold − It’s easy to point fingers. The reality is some companies are more aggressive, willing to take bigger risks in pursuit of bigger rewards. Others are more conservative, more risk-averse — and perhaps slower, but more stable. That’s just how business works. It’s the same even within our group — among our own brands we see different levels of risk appetite. And that diversity, in a way, is what keeps the market dynamic and interesting. We support a fair competition.

Aboutcamp BtoB − Have you ever considered acquiring dealerships or building a direct sales network?
Alexander Leopold − We own two dealerships, but that’s due to historical reasons. From today’s perspective, I don’t see added value in expanding our footprint in retail. I strongly believe in the independence and entrepreneurial spirit of our dealer partners. As a group, I don’t think we could bring additional benefits by owning more dealerships. That’s why we have no plans to invest in new retail outlets. We want to be the first choice for independent dealers — and we aim to achieve that through product excellence, innovation, strong service support, and attractive brands. In our view, if we can provide enough value to independent dealers, then we can build the strongest dealer network without needing to own it. That’s our approach — and for us, it makes more sense than going into retail directly.

Aboutcamp BtoB − The EU has set a clear target to phase out internal combustion engines by 2035, but our sector still seems far from a mature electric solution. Do you see a future where RV manufacturers develop their own electric powertrains, or will we remain dependent on automotive platforms and timelines? Where does electric RV development really stand today, and what are the main barriers — range, weight, cost, or infrastructure?
Alexander Leopold − We keep all options open. Our parent company THOR Industries collaborated with Harbinger a leading medium-duty electric and hybrid vehicle manufacturer to create the worlds first hybrid electric Class A motorhome, combining Harbinger’s advanced electric vehicle (EV) chassis with a low-emissions gasoline range extender that can recharge the electric batteries. The vehicle, which is designed specifically for RV use, is capable of delivering an estimated 500 miles of range, including 150 all-electric miles. Thor Industries and Harbinger have just received Fast Company’s 2025 World Changing Ideas Award for their Hybrid RV. For now, our chassis OEMs are working hard to deliver platforms tailored to our needs. At the same time, we won’t rush a product to market just to be first. Our philosophy is clear: when we release an electric RV, it must be mature, reliable, and fully tested. We want our customers to know that they’re buying a real product — not a prototype or a pre-series vehicle — and that it will meet the same high standards they expect from us today.

Aboutcamp BtoB − What is your personal opinion about this goal? Do you think we will be ready in 10 years, or will Europe end up postponing the date because the technology won’t be attractive or affordable enough? Alexander Leopold − It won’t be a problem to offer an electrically propelled vehicle in the weight range up to 4.25 tons. I’m confident it won’t take another 10 years to offer an attractive product. It will happen much sooner. Also in the car industry, we’re seeing that the product offerings are becoming more and more attractive, and an increasing number of newly sold vehicles will be electrically propelled.

Aboutcamp BtoB − In this context, how do you position the Dethleffs E.Home Eco concept? Is it a study that truly anticipates future trends?
Alexander Leopold − Yes, absolutely. And I think my colleague Bernhard Kibler has already communicated that they really intend to bring this product to market in the coming years. It also involves new sustainable materials. We just talked about that, and about the influence of our Innovation Camp, which is trying to find new, attractive materials. But again, it’s always about finding the right balance — what makes sense and what is affordable. If you want to be a pioneer, you have to test what the market will accept and what it won’t. And you can’t just do that sitting at your desk — you have to build a prototype, develop a concept study, and really listen to the market and your customers to get that feeling. Of course, it takes effort, and it costs money, but in return you get valuable feedback from your end customers. And that’s exactly what our brands are trying to do with several concept studies.

Below: EHG Test Center (left) and Corigon camper van (right)

Aboutcamp BtoB − Being part of a global group like Thor Industries naturally brings together different visions, cultures, and priorities. How would you describe the current relationship between the European and North American sides of the group? Is there strategic alignment, or does autonomy still prevail?
Alexander Leopold − The cultures are different, but we have a common vision. The requirements of the respective markets set the pace and market specific initiatives. Of course, there is strategic alignment and regular exchange in order to learn and benefit from each other. Among other things, we regularly coordinate in the areas of innovation, product development, digitalization and automation. The cooperation and regular exchange with Thor’s leadership works so smoothly because there is a great deal of industry expertise on both sides of the Atlantic. However, we benefit not only from the industry expertise, but also from the clear strategy and the financial strength of our parent company. It’s a perfect fit.

Aboutcamp BtoB − Attracting young, skilled, and motivated people is one of the biggest challenges for companies in our sector. In a context where manufacturing often seems less appealing than other industries, how is EHG working to engage new talent? Have you launched any specific initiatives for training, internal development, or partnerships with universities?
Alexander Leopold − You wouldn’t believe how many people from completely different industries send us their applications — including young talents from well-known car manufacturers — asking whether we offer trainee programs or job opportunities. Our industry is incredibly attractive to many people. Sure, cars and trucks are appealing too, but RVs are lifestyle products — everyone knows them, everyone can use them, and there’s a strong emotional connection. That identification with the product makes our industry particularly interesting for young people. And then there’s the broader experience we can offer: international projects, the opportunity to work abroad, professional people development or promotion opportunities across different brands or from brand to holding or vice versa — these are things we actively promote at Erwin Hymer Group. People love that, no doubt. We’ve also launched internal leadership programs, where we bring together young talents and train them several days a year with external coaches, focusing on leadership skills. The great thing is that these sessions involve participants from the entire group — from Hymer, Goldschmitt, Laika, our UK site, our site in Nowa Sól, Poland, and more. They network, they exchange ideas, they benchmark against each other — and that creates a completely different dynamic compared to speaking with someone who’s been at a single brand for 30 years. The younger talents collaborate across brands, they connect naturally, and that’s become part of our culture. This is especially important in areas like digitalization, where we need true specialists. Product digitalization requires highly skilled people — often coming from leading automotive suppliers or OEMs. So, we need to be truly attractive as an employer to win them over. And it seems we’re doing something right — honestly, we’re a bit proud of that.

Aboutcamp BtoB − Leading a group like EHG through such a complex phase — marked by market shifts, economic pressures, and technological transformation — requires vision, but also a strong human and cultural foundation. As CEO, what are your three main leadership priorities today? And which values do you consider essential to guide the company in the coming years: resilience, innovation, sustainability, social responsibility — or something else?
Alexander Leopold − We briefly touched on leadership earlier, especially in a phase of transformation. First and foremost, you need a clear vision. Our vision is to enable everyone to enjoy unique travel experiences in harmony with nature. That’s the foundation. Then, you have to derive a concrete strategy from that vision. You also need to take responsibility — for the vision itself, for the strategy, and for translating both into specific actions. To do that effectively, especially during transformation, you need the right people. That’s why we’ve defined a “skill set” for our managing directors, senior leadership, and talents — essentially a catalog of key criteria we expect from our leaders. The first and most important skill is the ability to develop a vision and define strategies. Then comes accountability — being willing and able to take responsibility for that strategy and implement the necessary steps. But to actually bring your team along, you also need empathy. You have to listen, to motivate, to inspire — but also know when to act decisively. Timing is critical. Leading a change process is always a challenge. But with the right mindset and capabilities, it is possible. As for values — the ones that matter most to me are exactly those that define our company: entrepreneurial thinking, a strong sense of team spirit, and the power of innovation — the ability to think outside the box. And perhaps most importantly, a healthy failure culture. That means recognizing that mistakes happen — we all make them, every day — but what counts is how you deal with them: your own, and those made by your leadership team. If you can handle that well, you have what it takes to lead successfully through a period of transformation.