The Ford Transit Custom isn’t the only van gaining a space-maximizing inflatable pop-up roof design – the Volkswagen Transporter T7 gets one, too. Fast-growing German RV brand Rhön Camp presents the first Volkswagen camper van featuring a Freescape inflatable roof, pairing the rooftop air tent with a more permanent California-style interior. It reckons this one the “Ultimate” in Volkswagen van life.
If Rhön’s keeping honest, it already had a pretty confident take on what the “ultimate” California-style Volkswagen camper van looked like, having released its Ultimate van a few years back. Then, the innovators at Freescape came along and ruined everything with their rooftop tent-like expanding blow-out roof. Now, Rhön has had to redefine the VW Ultimate camper van around the new space-maximizing pop-top solution.
Rhon Camp
Freescape had said it would be offering inflatable-roof Volkswagen camper vans of its own down the line, a fairly straightforward endeavor now that the Transporter shares the same platform as Ford’s Transit Custom. But before it gets around to that, Rhön has taken its inflatable roof concept and integrated it into a Volkswagen camper van of its own.
Rhön debuted its all-new Ultimate van a few halls over from Freescape’s exhibit at CMT 2026, giving the inflatable roof a whole different look atop a Volkswagen T7. As with Freescape’s Ford, the big advantage here is not so much in inflation over strut-assisted lifting – the latter is just as easy and well faster, but in giving the van permanent standing height when set up as a base camp.
Rhön Camp
Typical pop-up sleeper roofs feature a bed platform that must be lifted up to clear standing height during the day, so you have to choose either standing room or bed access. By creating a tent that expands off the side of the van, Freescape’s inflatable sleeper roof shifts the 140 x 200-cm (55 x 79-in) bed to the side, leaving the raised standing space over the van floor open all day long. The bed is always accessible for a midday nap, without having to limit interior headroom.
Rhon Camp
As for the floor plan, Rhön’s furnishings look quite similar to Freescape’s, utilizing sustainable construction materials and recycled textiles. However, Rhön does away with the cross-sliding kitchen block/flex lounge layout in favor of a more traditional California-like floor plan with fixed driver-side kitchen, rear seating that folds into a double bed, and a full-height storage console at the rear. That rear console features a cubby just inside the tailgate housing the outdoor shower system.
Instead of an integrated rear bench, Rhön installs two individual seats atop floor rails for increased flexibility. The seats can move forward and backward, set up at different places, fold individually to create a solo bed, and remove completely. They can then fold down together to create the lower double bed, allowing the van to sleep up to four people.
Rhön Camp
Rhön gives the Ultimate a gas-free energy platform, installing a 200-Ah lithium leisure battery, 3,000-W inverter, 50-A charge booster and hookup for available solar panels. That system powers the induction cooktop, 60-L Dometic fridge, 12V air compressor to inflate the sleeper roof, LED lighting and more without the need for burning diesel or propane. All Ultimate vans include a 24-L fresh water tank and 18-L waste water tank.
The Ultimate camper van starts at €74,990 (approx. US$88,600) in base spec when built atop a 109-hp front-wheel-drive Transporter. Available upgrades include more powerful engines, all-wheel-drive, a Webasto heater for camp, 200 to 400 watts of solar, underbody skid protection, and a Clesana X1 portable dry-sealing toilet.
Source: Rhön Camp
