Campervans and campervan/motorhome crossovers are the big news this year from this innovative French brand
WITH chassis availability still causing issues, and seemingly having spread from Fiat to Ford, there has been further reduction of the main Chausson portfolio, but that doesn’t mean that there’s a lack of excitement from this part of the Trigano Group. The company describes 2024 as “the year of flexibility.”
First, though, let’s focus on the bread and butter of the range – the Ford-based Titanium Ultimate low-profiles. For 2024, the slimmed down line-up consists of the 640 (large front lounge, rear garage and XL washroom), 777 (single beds) and 788 (island bed). All three get the 170PS Ford motor and six-speed automatic gearbox.
Gone are the one-of-a-kind 660 and the flexible family ’van, the 720, but extending the range is a lower-spec version of the established 650 layout – a 6.39m motorhome with side settee lounge, drop-down bed, and a full-width washroom (plus a garage). For 2024, this entry-level ’van will be based on a manual gearbox Peugeot Boxer (fitted with steel wheels). Despite being a more affordable model, the 650 will come with cab air-conditioning, cruise control, ESP, Isofix, diesel heating and a panoramic skylight.
ONE IN, ONE OUT
Chausson’s ‘S’ range of compact (narrow-bodied) low-profiles dips out of the company’s 2024 range, in the UK at least. In some countries it swaps from the Ford chassis to a Renault Master, but we’re not destined to see the Renaults here. Instead, we’re told the ‘S’ range will be back in 2025.
In the meantime, the ‘X’ – the crossover vehicle that blends motorhome facilities with campervan size, returns after a year out (as Chausson previously struggled to meet demand). Described by the company as “neither vans nor motorhomes… imagine a new generation of vehicles which merges the agility of vans and the comfort of low-profiles. Compact outside, spacious inside”, the X550 also gets a bigger brother for the first time – the X650.
The six-metre (and 2.10m wide) X550 returns to Britain with just minor changes (some new ‘X’ motifs next to the fridge and on the underside of the drop-down bed) – but also a key detail. Watch our video at motorhome.ma/review220 (760,000 people already have) and you’ll see that a major point of contention was the lack of an offside lounge window – well, the 2024 version has one.
So does the new X650, which is 6.36m long (the same as an extra-long Fiat panel van). The bigger ‘X’ has the same front lounge and drop-down bed, but the washroom mov
