The HUTrv Dekpod Expanding Trailer Is Coming Sooner Than You Think

Earlier this month, we featured a coverstory on what stood out as one of the most innovative hybrid trailers of recent years, the HUTrv Dekpod, made by an Australian startup also going by HUTrv. HUTrv stands for Hybrid Utility Trailer recreational vehicle and is key to understanding the kind of innovation this product aims to bring to market: a module that attaches to a trailer to add utility areas on the tongue, with hybrid walls of canvas and metal.

The module, as shown with a proof-of-concept overlanding trailer built shortly after the formal introduction of 2019 (shown in the video below), creates a kitchen and a bathroom on the tongue of the trailer, which means the trailer itself can be used exclusively for sleeping and daytime activities.

The idea for it was to maximize use of wasted real estate on the tongue of the trailer, though the module itself attached to the trailer. At camp, the Dekpod swivels and folds out, creating a space that hosts a small kitchen and, when need be, an even smaller wet bathroom with collapsible walls, a shower, and a cassette toilet.

The initial delivery date for the Dekpod was set for 2020 but got pushed back indefinitely as 2020 rolled in.

Contacted for comment, James Knight from HUTrv tells autoevolution that "indefinitely" no longer applies. Australian customers are looking at deliveries of the first Dekpod units by the end of 2024. The unexpected and repeated delays were prompted by the "material supply and skilled labor constraints" of the past years.

The production version of the Dekpod won't be the same Dekpod shown with the proof-of-concept prototype, though. Instead, it will be "significantly lighter and smaller," making it ideal for towing with a much wider range of vehicles and even electric vehicles, where weight and aerodynamics are paramount in terms of limiting range anxiety. That said, the main idea of adding a kitchen and a bathroom in a separate space from the area destined for sleeping will live on in the new model, Mr. Knight tells us.

HUTrv is also working on a Dekpod-equipped RV for the North American market. There is no estimated timeline for this product, though, save for a vague "in the not-too-distant future."

As noted in the original story, the plan was all along for HUTrv to bring the Dekpod to market both as an add-on to existing trailers, new and old, and as a combo with a custom trailer. By the looks of it, that part hasn't suffered any changes.