Auto-Sleepers (also spelt as ''Auto-sleeper'') English manufacturer of

campervan A camper van, also referred to as a camper, caravanette, motor caravan or RV (recreational vehicle) in North America, is a self-propelled vehicle that provides both transport and sleeping accommodation. The term describes vans that have been fitt ...

motorhomes, based in

Willersey Willersey is a village in Gloucestershire, South West England, situated close to the boundary with Worcestershire, West Midlands region and southwest of Evesham. Although situated in Gloucestershire, the postal county for the village is Worceste ...

a small village near

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

History

In 1961, the Trevelyan family and their two young sons, built their own motorhome based on a

Morris Commercial J2 The Morris J2 was a small, forward-control van (driver's cab on top of the engine) launched by Morris-Commercial in 1956 and produced until 1967. It was offered with the familiar B-series petrol engine, initially in form, but this was sub ...

van, which they took on holiday to the

South of France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', A ...

. On return they converted an Austin van, which attracted five orders from Henlys in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

. Going into business with local builder Bob Halling, the first retail products were produced. Clubman

Auto-Sleepers core product developed through the adoption of the successful

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

body, a two-piece clamshell glass-fibre unit which gave the living unit strength and a lack of edge joints, which on a traditional sandwich construction produce a weaker body which is prone to leaking. The company developed rapidly and quickly became a product market leader in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, as well as exporting its vehicles to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, Switzerland,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, Australia and Japan The Trevelyan family sold the business in 1997 to Steven Riley and Bill Cook, whilst retaining a small shareholding themselves. In 2000 the company was sold to Ian Capes and Stuart Johnson, whose Marquis company in 2005 was acquired by the Italian motorhome manufacturing company

SEA Group SEA Group (''Italian language, Italian – Societa' Europea Autocaravan; pronounced "sayer"'') is an Italian headquartered motorcaravan manufacturer, based in Trivolzio, Lombardy. History The company was created in 2000 by the merger of three co ...

Present

Like most British based motorcaravan manufacturers, its vehicles are based on

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpa ...

supplied by major motor manufacturers, including the Peugeot Boxer and

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is a light commercial vehicle (van) built by Mercedes-Benz Group AG of Stuttgart, Germany as a large van, chassis cab, minibus, and pickup truck. In the past, the Sprinter had been sold under the Mercedes-Benz, Dodg ...

; the

Ford Transit The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van (marketed as the Ford Tourneo i ...

based conversions were dropped in 2010, and the

Volkswagen LT The Volkswagen Transporter LT is the largest light commercial panel van produced by Volkswagen (and subsequently Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles as of 1996) from 1975 to 2006, before being replaced by the Crafter. Two generations were produc ...

conversions for model year 2017. The Service Centre is based in

, near

Broadway, Worcestershire Broadway is a large village and civil parish in the Cotswolds, England, with a population of 2,540 at the 2011 census. It is in the far southeast of Worcestershire, close to the Gloucestershire border, midway between Evesham and Moreton-in-Mars ...

, formerly managed by last family member involved with the business, Charles Trevelyan. In June 2009, existing directors Geoff Scott and Mike Crouch acquired 100% of the shareholding via their company Trigano Group - the UK's largest dealernetwork of motorhomes, trading under the Marquis brand - returning Auto Sleeper into British private ownership.http://www.auto-sleepers.co.uk/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=28&cntnt01origid=58&cntnt01returnid=58

References

External links

{{commons category, Auto-Sleepers
Company websiteAuto Sleepers Owners ClubAuto Sleeper Owners Forum
Recreational vehicle manufacturers Motor vehicle manufacturers of England Companies based in Worcestershire Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1961 1961 establishments in England