Niesmann + Bischoff iSmove

Every now and then a motorhome arrives to rewrite the rulebook and redefine expectations. The

The most exciting new motorhome of 2021, packed with innovative design

IT was hard to contain my disappointment at missing the launch of the iSmove but, in the grand scale of things, that was a minor matter in a year that none of us will forget. In any other season, I’d have caught up with the news at Düsseldorf ’s Caravan Salon, but that (while being one of the few shows to actually go ahead in 2020) was also off limits as HR wisely said ‘no’ to foreign travel.

So, I had to wait for the prototypes to make their way to Britain and the UK home of the brand, Erwin Hymer Centre Travelworld at Stafford. I’d seen the press pictures, watched the official video and, if there’d been a T-shirt, I’d have worn that, too. The excitement as I drove across country was palpable. Would – or could – these new A-classes live up to the hype? Was it possible to include everything that makes a Niesmann special in a smaller, lighter package?

SMOVE OVER

Of course, Niesmann hasn’t always built only super-sized motorhomes and, more recently, it moved back into the mid-sized market with the low-profile Smove. But the iSmove is so much more than a Smove with an A-class cab that you wonder why it didn’t earn its own moniker. Perhaps that was Niesmann’s one mistake in creating this motorhome?

At first glance, though, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. Or even fail to spot the iSmove as an all-new model. The exterior styling is unmistakeably N+B, with the look of a slightly more compact Arto. Without the latter alongside, you might even think you were looking at that well-established model.

What is incredible, though, is that this family look was introduced back in 2013 but it hasn’t dated at all. This design set Niesmann on the road to success and the company hasn’t looked back since, so it’s hardly a shock that it has stuck with what it knows customers like for the exterior of the newcomer. Even nearly eight years on no rival has managed such pleasing aesthetics for what is, basically, a big rectangular box.

Or not such a big box, because the iSmove is a seven-metre, 3.5-tonne motorhome – albeit one that aims to provide liner-style luxury. It’s lower, too, at 2.83m, compared with 2.95m for an Arto and a lofty 3.34m for the range-topping Iveco Daily-based Flair.