Perhaps due to its success, or by pure chance, in 2024 the caravanning sector has achieved one of its greatest demands in Europe: raising the Maximum Authorized Mass (MMA) for the type B driving license. With a 4,250 kilogram limit, the Manufacturers are facing a new era that will allow them to use more economical materials and better equip their models.
The resolution was passed in February, when the European Parliament voted in favor of the proposal to raise the GVW with which car license users can circulate to 4,250 kilograms. It first had to go through the European Council in December 2023, to end up being approved in Parliament with the impetus of the Spanish Association of Caravaning Industry and Commerce (Aseicar) to get the yes of politicians and MEPs to the proposal presented by the ECF (European Caravaning Federation).
There is still one step to complete, which is the exact conditions of this new regulation negotiated by the Commission, the Council and Parliament after the elections. It will be voted on from June 6 to 9, 2024 (in Spain on the 9th) and then said measure will be adopted in the permit directive of that legislature. Most likely throughout 2025.
This legislative change in Europe meets a historical demand of the caravanning sector, but also seeks homogeneity in the old continent. This simple number has required a lot of work in research and materials innovation for motorhome manufacturers, who have achieved really interesting models with the current limit of 3,500 kilograms.
The entry into force of this regulation will allow access to motorhomes of greater prestige and dimensions, but also more complete equipment. We have already published an article where we review some of the most luxurious Liners on the market, but there are many integral ones that exceed 3.5 tons of MMA and that, now, will be able to play with the same rules before the buyer.
Furthermore, for manufacturers, a new era of proposals opens up equipped with larger water tanks, satellite dishes for television, photovoltaic panels for the autonomy of the mobile home and standard air conditioners in models that now, due to weight, cannot incorporate them.
The user of a conventional model, who always goes at or above the weight limit when loading them with luggage and people, will not suffer in the presence of security forces. Right now, we have to calculate a lot about the volume of bags of clothes, food and sports equipment that we carry during our trips.
Finally, increasing the MMA will allow the use of materials with better insulation or lower costs during production. The latter would be key to containing prices in the face of a wave of considerable increases, one of the causes of the drop in sales in 2023 compared to 2022 along with the waiting times derived from the lack of components in the factories.
