About Camping, Cars & Caravans

Camping, Cars & Caravans

Camping, Cars & Caravans — the caravan lovers' magazine — is the Stuttgart monthly for the towing-vehicle campers: the caravans, the camping, and the cars that pull them, published by the DoldeMedien Verlag. Founded in 1994 by publisher Gerhard Dolde as the journal for Wohnwagen-Liebhaber (caravan lovers), the magazine has served the caravaning community for three decades: the vehicle and accessory tests, the pitch checks, and the extensive travel service. Together with its sister title Reisemobil International, it conducts the König Kunde Award — the caravaning industry's unique customer-satisfaction study.

Overview

The magazine serves the caravanists: the caravan owners, the campers, and the towing-car drivers in Germany and beyond. The editorial program covers the caravaning agenda: the caravan models (the new layouts, the lightweight concepts, the luxury caravans), the towing cars (the tow vehicles, the hitches, the driving), the accessories (the awnings, the movers, the air conditioning, the satellite systems), the campsites and pitches (the Stellplatz checks), and the travel service (the destinations, the routes, the tips). The monthly rhythm — twelve issues a year — follows the camping seasons: the spring's preparation, the summer's travel, the autumn's fairs, the winter's planning.

The focus areas — the vehicle and accessory tests, the pitch checks, the travel service — give the practical journalism: the tested caravans, the checked pitches, the planned routes. The reader survey — the König Kunde Award, conducted with market researcher Christian Manzei for over a decade — delivers the consumer verdict: the caravan overall winners (Tabbert, Fendt, Knaus), the accessory categories (awning Isabella, mover Al-Ko, air conditioning Truma) — the readers judging what they own and use daily, the industry awaiting the results with anticipation.

History

The caravan's resilience — the towing campers' story — deserves its telling. The caravan — the Wohnwagen — is the caravaning's original form: the affordable mobile home, the family's vacation house on wheels, the tow car's companion. Against the motorhome's boom — the integrated driving — the caravan holds its ground: the lower purchase price, the car usable without the home, the spacious layouts for the money. The lightweight concepts — the under-750-kg caravans, the e-car-towable — answer the electric age: the towing range, the weight limits. The luxury caravans — the high-end layouts, the design — serve the comfort campers. The magazine's 1994 mission — the Wohnwagen-Liebhaber's own journal — endures: the caravanists' community, distinct from the motorhomers, with their own tests, their own pitches, their own travel service — and their own reader award: the König Kunde's caravan overall winners Tabbert, Fendt, and Knaus. The 1990s caravaning — the family camping, the caravan as the affordable mobile home — gave the new magazine its market: the towers distinct from the motorhomers. The 1996 Bordatlas — the first pitch-guide special issue, listing more than 6,000 overnight spots in Germany and Europe, also available as a web app — became the brand's reference: the caravanists' bible.

The 2009 chapter — the Forum Media Group (Merching near Augsburg) taking over the two magazines, per de.wikipedia — marked an ownership change; the current imprint again names the DoldeMedien Verlag GmbH (managing director Stephan Behrens): the Stuttgart caravaning-media house. The Caravan Salon Düsseldorf — the industry's world fair — deserves its telling as the magazines' stage. The late-summer fair — the caravaning industry's annual gathering — is where the König Kunde Award winners are crowned: the readers' verdict celebrated before the industry. The new-model presentations — the caravans, the motorhomes, the accessories — fill the halls: the manufacturers showing the coming season, the readers planning the purchases. The magazines' fair coverage — the reports, the premieres, the trends — carries the Salon to the readers who couldn't attend: the year's product news in the issues. The "König Kunde" name — the customer is king — is the editorial program: the readers' experiences, not the manufacturers' claims, deciding the rankings — the Tabbert, Fendt, and Knaus caravans, the Isabella awnings, the Al-Ko movers, the Truma air conditioners winning because the owners use them daily. The editor-in-chief — Simon Ribnitzky — carries the editorial.

Coverage and Content

The editorial program follows the caravaning year. The towing-car dimension — the "Cars" in the title — deserves its telling. The caravan needs the tow car: the towing capacity, the nose weight, the driving license (the BE classes), the mirrors, the maneuvering. The magazine's car coverage — the tow-vehicle tests, the hitch technology, the driving dynamics — serves the towers' specific needs: the SUV or the estate, the diesel or the electric, the range with the caravan behind. The electric towing — the e-cars' range collapse with the trailer — is the current challenge: the lightweight caravans, the route planning, the charging with the rig. The "Cars & Caravans" — the title's promise — is the combination journalism: the car and the caravan as the unit, the journey starting at the hitch. The accessory coverage — the tests — addresses the equipment: the awnings (Isabella, Thule), the movers (Al-Ko), the air conditioning (Truma), the satellite systems (Maxview), the bicycle carriers (Thule). The pitch-check methodology — the practical journalism — deserves its telling. The Stellplatz checks — the evaluated campsites and overnight spots — test what the caravanists need: the pitch sizes (the big rigs fitting), the facilities (the sanitary, the supply and disposal), the locations (the sights, the quiet), the prices. The Bordatlas — the 6,000+ overnight spots in Germany and Europe, print and web app — is the brand's reference work: the caravanist's route planner, the motorhomer's bible. The travel service — the destinations, the routes, the tips — plans the journeys: the seasonal tours, the themed routes, the practical advice (the tolls, the regulations, the ferries). Together — the checks, the atlas, the service — the magazine is the caravanist's travel department: the tested pitches, the mapped spots, the planned routes. The travel service — the destinations, the routes — plans the journeys: the extensive travel section.

The reader survey — the König Kunde Award — is the editorial event: the fixed questionnaire, the readers' experiences evaluated with Christian Manzei, the brand ups and downs and long-term trends traceable, the winners (Tabbert, Fendt, Knaus/Eriba caravans; Thetford, Alde, Thule-Omnistor accessories) celebrated at the Caravan Salon. The special issues — the numerous Sonderhefte — deepen the topics: the buying guides, the destinations, the technology.

Organization and Ownership

Camping, Cars & Caravans is published by the DoldeMedien Verlag GmbH, Naststr. 19B, 70376 Stuttgart, telephone 0711/55 349-0, email info@doldemedien.de (Amtsgericht Stuttgart, HRB 13380). The managing director is Stephan Behrens; the editor-in-chief is Simon Ribnitzky; the deputy is Claus-Georg Petri. The advertising department (0711/55 349-190, anzeigen@doldemedien.de) works with rate card no. 25. The subscription service — Zenit Pressevertrieb GmbH, Stuttgart — handles the subscriptions: the single issue at 5.50 euros, the annual subscription at 56.90 euros (abroad 62.90 euros).

The publisher's portfolio — Reisemobil International (monthly, Europe's competent motorhome magazine), Camping, Cars & Caravans (monthly), CamperVans (bimonthly) — covers the mobile-leisure spectrum: the motorhome, the caravan, the camping bus — in the motorhome or camping bus, in the caravan or the tent. The business model follows the consumer-press pattern: the copy sales, the subscriptions, the advertising (the caravan manufacturers, the accessory suppliers, the tourism), and the specials.

Digital Presence

The brand's digital home is camping-cars-caravans.de — the magazine's portal — with the whitepaper/imprint pages documenting the publishing details. The Bordatlas web app — the pitch guide's mobile version — serves the caravanists on the road: the 6,000+ overnight spots. The media data — available via the publisher — documents the advertising offers. The digital strategy follows the consumer-press logic: the print monthly for the deep caravaning coverage — the tests, the pitches, the travel service — the digital for the guides and the community.

As the caravan lovers' magazine — founded 1994, published by the DoldeMedien Verlag — Camping, Cars & Caravans remains the caravanists' monthly companion: the caravans, the camping, and the cars — twelve times a year in print, continuously online.