Auto-Sleepers 2021

Sixty years on from the first Auto-Sleeper campervan, the range includes Peugeot, Fiat and Mercedes base vehicles, van conversions and coachbuilts, and models from 5.4m to almost 8m. We take a look at the current range...

From a 5.4m campervan to a pair of luxury eight-metre Mercedes coachbuilts

IT’S easy to split up the current Auto-Sleeper range into campervans, Peugeot coachbuilts, Peugeot Al-Ko coachbuilts and Mercedesbased coachbuilts. However, while the company has had a long affiliation with Peugeot and uses the Boxer window van for all its 2021-season campervans, it’s worth noting, too, that every Peugeot model (van or coachbuilt) is also offered on the closely related Fiat Ducato, simply because the latter has an automatic option that’s missing from the Boxer’s repertoire. However, while even the smallest Peugeot Auto-Sleepers get a 165bhp engine, the Fiat automatics can be specified with 140bhp (£2,000 extra) or 160bhp (£3,000 extra).

The only new model this year is the Broadway EL, a Boxer-based coachbuilt with a rear U-shaped lounge. Fans of the marque will see this as a return of a previous nameplate, but the new EL is more compact of length than its predecessor (which actually hasn’t figured in the range since about 2015), as well as adopting the wider body of the bigger Coriniums. At 6.63m long, the latest Broadway’s key feature is, of course, its rear lounge but, with large windows and a centrally positioned habitation door, it manages to feel more spacious than you’d expect.

We expect it to become a very popular model in the range.

Of course, Auto-Sleepers has also unveiled the special anniversary edition of its best-selling baby coachbuilt, the Nuevo. As well as the twoberth EK reviewed on page 38, this is also offered in ES form with a half-dinette lounge incorporating rear seatbelts and an overcab bed, making this a four-berth. We’d expect the 60th anniversary models to hint at the look of the 2022-season range.

There are also some specification changes across the Auto-Sleeper line-up this year. Lithium leisure batteries have become standard on all models, with a 60Ah capacity (double that figure for an approximate equivalent in a traditional battery). This can then be upgraded to 84Ah for £150 or 100Ah for £250.

The Mercedes coachbuilts now receive Remis blinds in the cab (replacing Silver Screens), while Peugeot campervans switch to Seitz blinds.