Fifteen years ago, Robeta wasn't a brand. It was one man's idea, born from an opportunity he saw in converting vehicles, and a friend he wanted to help. Today, fifteen years later, Robeta is present in more than fifteen European countries and is expanding into Canada and Japan. Every day, a new campervan is finished, carrying the signature of the craftsman who built it. To mark the occasion, we looked back at the beginnings, the setbacks, and the decisions that brought Robeta to where it stands today.
The Robeta story began as a small project in a home workshop. Founder Primož Kotnik says he entered the story more by chance, wanting to help a friend who believed he could build a better campervan than anything available on the market, without a production hall, without series equipment, practically in a backyard. That first partnership didn't work out, but the experience taught Primož an important lesson, and he still saw an opportunity in it: if he wanted to take the idea further, he couldn't do it alone. He turned to his longtime friend Boštjan Paradiž, and the two agreed to share both the work and the risk.
With two finished vehicles, they set off for Europe's largest caravanning fair in Düsseldorf. Expectations were high, and the result brought them firmly back down to earth: at the biggest fair in Europe, they didn't sell a single campervan. Among the established brands exhibiting in Düsseldorf, Robeta was barely a drop in the ocean.
That didn't discourage them. With the same two vehicles, they headed straight to the Internautica fair in Portorož, Slovenia, where they found their first customer. Primož was so encouraged that he ordered three new chassis from a supplier on the spot, before he even knew who would build the campervans. It was a simple decision: he had seen that the market existed, and that it needed to be seized.
The decision was clear: Robeta would develop and convert vans into bespoke campervans, tailored to each individual customer. In 2014, with a broader lineup, they returned to Düsseldorf, and this time the response was entirely different. Dealership Autohaus Siebrecht placed an order for the conversion of 80 Opel vehicles, marking the start of a new chapter for Robeta.
Robeta's range of campervans was well received in Europe's most demanding market, Germany, which has remained one of the company's key markets ever since. From 2015 onward, brand recognition grew year after year, and with it, the number of orders and satisfied owners.
While large manufacturers assemble campervans on a production line, at Robeta the same team still follows every vehicle from the first sketch to the final inspection. Carpenters cut the furniture on CNC machines, and colleagues then assemble and install it by hand. Before a campervan leaves the workshop, it goes through a final quality check, and every Robeta carries a plaque signed by the builder who made it.
This isn't a marketing gesture. It's a commitment that a real person stands behind every campervan, guaranteeing that the vehicle was built carefully, precisely, and with attention to every detail.
When Robeta's leadership decided where in the market to look for customers, they chose a path that looked harder, but made more sense in the long run. At the time, 85 percent of manufacturers in the campervan market produced series-built, low- to mid-priced products. Only around 15 percent targeted the highest quality tier.
Robeta chose that 15 percent. A less crowded space, but a far more demanding one: manufacture-style production in the premium segment takes up to six times longer per vehicle than series production. From two campervans they couldn't sell even at the biggest fair in Europe fifteen years ago, Robeta has grown to a current output of around 500 vehicles a year, placing the company, by European standards, alongside mid-sized manufacturers of the highest comfort class.
Every converted van faces the same challenge: with a maximum permitted weight of 3,500 kg, space for the equipment customers actually want runs out fast. Robeta found the answer in developing its own AIR furniture, made from a stable material sourced from recycled bottles and finished with scratch-resistant HPL panels.
The result is a vehicle up to 220 kg lighter than a classic build. That means customers can freely combine extras such as 4x4 drive and a pop-up roof without exceeding the permitted weight, and without compromising on quality.
Robeta today employs 130 people and, through authorized dealers, is present in many European countries, as well as Canada and Japan. But growth hasn't changed one essential part of the company's culture: community. Every year, Robeta owners gather at the Kope ski resort for a traditional get-together, where they share experiences, ideas, and advice. At Robeta, we believe we learn the most from our own customers, which is why we treat them not as clients, but as family.
In 2023, Robeta's newest model, Adonis, won the Goldenes Reisemobil award from German motoring magazine AutoBild for best campervan of the year. For a company that, fifteen years earlier, hadn't sold a single campervan at its first major fair, it was confirmation that persistence, and the decision to target a smaller but far more demanding market segment, had paid off. The many satisfied customers across Europe, spreading the word about a small but innovative campervan manufacturer, suggest that Robeta's growth story is still far from over.
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