The 2023 Knaus Tabbert Tourer CUV Is an RV With Pop-Up Roof and Expanding Bathroom

Put it differently, you can opt for all the comforts of home, and you get a sizable vehicle that poses more challenges when operating and storing, or you can compromise on comfort in favor of maneuverability. Budget will also play a significant role, but that goes almost without saying.

Way back in 1969, The Rolling Stones famously sang “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” but German maker of luxury recreational homes Knaus Tabbert aims to prove the contrary. Ahead of next month’s 2022 Düsseldorf Caravan Salon, Knaus has teased the 2023 Tourer CUV, New Atlas reports.

The Tourer CUV, where CUV stands for Caravaning Utility Vehicle, aims to be  yesterday’s dream come true today, in the company’s own words: a small-factor, urban-class vehicle that can sleep up to 4 people and has all the comforts of a fully-fledged motorhome. The Tourer CUV, which will be based on a Volkswagen T6.1 van, according to the media outlet, aims “to combine the best of both worlds in a new class” of RV, one that sits at the intersection of the Class B campervan and a Class C motorhome. Knaus calls it a B+.

“This makes the Tourer CUV the ideal vehicle for everyday life and time out, for maximum driving pleasure and genuine holiday enjoyment,” Knaus says. “Fantastically good – and finally a reality!”

Technically, the Tourer CUV is a reality only for Knaus for the time being because the production model and the full specs list have not been revealed yet. But we do know how the company was able to create this new class of RV, and that’s by including a pop-up roof and extra modularity inside.

The CUV offers a full kitchen and a dinette, a fixed bathroom with an expanding shower room, sleeping for up to four people, a multifunctional and customizable interior, “optimum safety” through various assistance systems, and the promise of improved maneuverability, easy storage, and higher cruising speed thanks to the compact dimensions.

Speaking of dimensions, New Atlas has some figures: the Tourer CUV is 588 cm (232 in) long and offers a standing height of 2 meters (6.6 feet) throughout, with the pop-up deployed. The flared walls expand interior space considerably when compared to the Fiat Ducato CUV and the MAN TGE CUV campervans. By adding the pop-up roof to the entire width and length of the van, Knaus is able to create a home-like space that doesn’t feel cramped – and which can even accommodate an extra slide-in bed for two more people.

The basic layout for the Tourer CUV includes a dinette slash mobile office space behind the driver’s seat and a full kitchen on the opposite side. The full details and list of appliances will be made public in August, with the official unveiling of the campervan, so for the time being, we have some renders to give us a feel of the place. To whet your appetite, if you will, coincidentally just in time for autoevolution’s RV Month.

The “main” bedroom is at the rear and serves to deploy the CUV’s most interesting feature: an expanding dry bathroom. With the bed laid out, the CUV offers a wet bathroom with toilet, a small sink, and a shower, but if you remove a smaller section of the bed, you can fold out the shower room and create a dry bathroom. The same feature is found on bigger models from the upcoming Knaus 2023 line, and the company plans to offer variations for all, including the possibility to turn the dinette into a bedroom and thus use the space at the rear for something else than sleeping.

For this particular configuration, with the bedroom at the rear, Knaus puts a tunnel for storage underneath it – a garage of sorts. Renders show that it’s accessible both from within, through a small hatch door under the bed, and from the outside, through a door on the side.

At first glance, the 2023 Knaus Tabbert Tourer CUV looks very promising. With the full specs list and actual photos will also come pricing details, and that will probably tip the scales with most customers.