Prologue

My wife, Evelyn, and I are active camper van users. In 1972, we converted our first camper, a VW T2, ourselves according to our needs. After the first instructive experiences we converted the next camper van and the next and so on. Each time, our campers improved in functionality, comfort and independence. We also immediately supplied our vehicles with photovoltaic panels (in suffucient quantity!) when these were introduced to the market. Nevertheless, we didn't make our camper vans a lot bigger because we wanted to keep them mobile and trailworthy. Therefore, our biggest camper was a VW LT with long wheel base but with firm chassis and heightened. Nevertheless, every now and then we used our little and mobile VW bus which is more fun to drive, also offroad, and can be parked anywhere without problems. Our hobbies are/where scuba diving, fishing, surfing, sailing - simply everything to do with water - skiing, horses, dogs, converting campers and naturally our meanwhile adult daughter, Diana, who, at the age of three months, went on her first trip with a camper to Greece.
In order to realise all these activities with a small camper, we had to be creative, and over and over again we had to develop equipment because it was not available on the market or it did not meet our needs. We not only needed a good camper, but functional equipment that really solved our problems. Furthermore, it had to be stowable and absolutely reliable in quality because we didn't have enough space to take all the necessary tools with us and anyway didn`t want to spend our valuable free time with repairing the equipment.
On the road we met a lot of other campers asking whether we could make this or other equipment for them. Particularly clients of "off-the-peg"camper vans need a lot of equipment because these vehicles are not designed for individual necessities but are made for a broad clientele and therefor have to be individualised with additional equipment. This was a broad field of activity and meant a lot of fun for us.
In the meantime, BRANDRUP Camper & Van Equipment, is still a family business and the market leader in special accessories for serial recreation vehicles of the Volkswagen AG.

History

1985 Foundation of the enterprise as family business in Munich. Legal form: Sole proprietor.
1986 Presentation of BRANDRUP accessories on national exhibitions.
1990 Beginning of a very close collaboration with VW retailers. Development of special accessories for VW recreation vehicles. We convince more and more dealers that their clients need adequate accessories in order to make them even happier with their camper vans.
1994 Since 1994, we are guest exhibitor on national trade fairs on the stand of the Volkswagen AG which, at this time, started to build up a network of retailers specialised in recreation vehicles.
1998 A lot of our VW retailers sign our contract and become BRANDRUP licensed retailers; thereby, we could offer our clients an even better service. Start of collaboration with PORSCHE AUSTRIA
2000 The first BRANDRUP importer's contract with a Volkswagen importer is signed with PON/Volkswagen Campercentrum Netherlands, the first out of Germany to found a company consistently specialised on recreation vehicles.
2001 Due to our success and loyalty of our customers we are able to expand and move our company from Munich city centre to lower Bavaria where we own a ground of 24 hectare.
2003 Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf: exclusive and initial presentation of BRANDRUP accessories for the VW T5 California and Multivan on the stand of Volkswagen AG commercial vehicles together with the initial presentation of the VW T5 California. Production of intitial equipment for the HYMER AG.
2006 The Accessoiries Shop of the After-Sales Service Department of the Volkswagen AG commercial vehicles in Hannover becomes our licensed retailer. Reinforcement of collaboration with VW retailers in France and Belgium. Development and production of equipment for Daimler.
2007 Domingo Alonso S.A., Volkswagen importer to the Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla and Gibraltar becomes our licensed importer. Expansion of our dealer network in Spain. Contractual cooperation with Volkswagen Zubehör GmbH, a subsidiary company of the Volkswagen AG. Since 2008, Volkswagen Zubehör GmbH is licensed to distribute our entire VW equipment to VW retailers worldwide.
2008 Reorganisation of our retailers’ network in Switzerland: one VW retailer becomes our direct licensed retailer, all other VW retailers are provided by AMAG, the Volkswagen and BRANDRUP licensed importer. Intensification of our collaboration with PORSCHE AUSTRIA and AUTO Z, both companies belonging to the Austrian PORSCHE Group.
2009 Beginning of reorganisation of our dealers network in italy. Volkswagen France equips 1,000 Caddy Life with BRANDRUP equipment. Development of equipment for the new VW T5 as from model year 2010. Expansion of our production by a computer-controlled machine for producing seat covers with documented tear seams for the new side airbags of the VW cabin seats.
2010 The enterprise exists for 25 years.

Epilogue

Since our beginning a lot has changed. The "garage inventors" have nearly vanished as the automotive industry continously produces better campers. Therefore, converting a van at home is neither worthwile nor necessary anymore. Considering the today high purchase costs of materials, one also has to bear in mind that the property value retention of an "off-the-peg" camper is considerably higher than that of an individually converted vehicle which has been designed according to the individual needs of its owner.
Nevertheless, the advantages of serial vehicles at the same time bring along a lack of individual equipment as the serial camper vans have to meet the needs of a broad clientele. Our equipment, which has been specially developed for these kind of vehicles, individualises and enlarges the application field of a camper van according to the individual hobbies and needs of each client, also in everyday life.
Therefore, for serial camper vans BRANDRUP Camper & Van Equipment is even more important nowadays than in former times. Our range of products inlcudes the VARIOTENT front tent sytem, TOP-RAIL, the Utilities, seat covers made of the orginal fabrics and the original design, ISOLITE, ISOLITE Extreme, AIRSCREEN, ISO-TOP, FLYOUT, MULTIBOX CarryBag, FLEXBAG bench rucksack, FLEXBAG Stern etc.. But our basic attitude has not changed: from the beginning we have put a lot of emphasize on functionality and dependability of our products.
In order to guarantee high quality permanently, we still produce all our own products in Germany. Hence, we have been able to offer a guarantee of three years on all the BRANDRUP products for over 25 years.
Furthermore, we still test all of our products ourselves thoroughly before we offer them to our customers.
Have fun on our homepage! 

Yours sincerely,

Robert Brandrup