“Mobile like a caravan [but] comfortable like a tiny house” is the kind of promise most RV-ers and tiny house enthusiasts couldn’t probably not resist. It serves as motto for German company Aurum Globe and, as such, it can also be applied to the latest unit they’ve completed and brought out on display.
Aurum Globe under this name is a relative new presence on the market. They announced their first product in late 2023 and then brought it out on display at the 2024 Dusseldorf Caravan Salon, revealing at the same time much greater plans for three full ranges, each with a handful of different models.
The plan was to make an R-Series of transformable travel trailers, a C-Series of trailers, and an M-Series of motorhomes, but it’s changed since we last time checked the R-Series R2 out. As of this writing, it seems that the company is focusing solely on the transformable R-Series.
Aurum Globe may be a new company but the team behind it comes from the armored vehicles niche, so they have plenty of experience in terms of making stuff that lasts a lifetime and meets certain, very strict criteria. With a towable that lives compact on the road and then expands into a full house (a tiny house, but still a full one, nonetheless) strict criteria regard durability, convenience, and reliability.
Photo: YouTube/German Television
While the first R-Series trailer completed was the mid-entry R2, for 2026, Aurum is showcasing the smallest entry in the lineup, the Aurum R1. Like the headline says, it’s half travel trailer, half tiny house, and a truly unique design in both style and amenities.
Pop-up towables that live at the intersection of the RV industry and tiny housing are not new to the market, but Aurum is perhaps a rare example of a company that’s been producing them for the past few years. We’re not talking big volume production because, as you might have guessed, these towables are far from cheap, but they’re being made at a steady pace.
At this summer’s international New Housing – Tiny House Festival 2026 in Karlsruhe, Germany, Aurum Globe brought out the first completed R1 model on display. You will find complete tours for it in both videos at the bottom of the page, though the second and longer one also includes details from one of the company founders.
Photo: YouTube/German Television
What makes this travel trailer unique – and the entire R-Series, for that matter – is the patent-pending fully-automatic expandable mechanism. Once you arrive at camp, using a tablet or your phone with the dedicated app, you simply touch an icon and the R1 unfolds two large slide-outs, auto-levels itself, and nearly doubles in footprint.
The Aurum R1 is 4.6 meters (15 feet) long, 3 meters (9.8 feet) high, and 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) wide on the road. At camp, it “grows” to 4.8 meters (15.7 feet) in width, offering an impressive 15 square meters (161.4 square feet) of living space – just enough to fit a one-bedroom tiny house for a couple who puts mobility and comfort on equal footing.
The official description of the R1 mentions that the model sleeps four, but that’s a typo. This is a couple’s tiny house, with a lounge space that provides the single available bed, a full bathroom, a full kitchen, and space to move around and even fit a small two-person dining table.
Photo: YouTube/German Television
The R1 is constructed with fiberglass and composite panels, on a trailer chassis with a tandem axle. The entrance is at the back, with the water tanks and electronics located in a dedicated compartment at the front, behind a roller door.
One slide holds the bathroom and fixed kitchen, while the other is reserved for the bedroom, so it will hold the extendable sofa and a decent amount of furniture for storage. The middle section, which would be the living room at camp and will hold the fold-down dining table, has to be emptied before you fold back the slides, as they meet in the middle.
Construction is with fiberglass and composite panels, vinyl tiles for the floor, a washable textile layer on the walls, and double-glazed plexiglass instead of real glass to save weight. There is no XPS insulation because Aurum works instead with PIR panels (10 cm thick for the walls, 12 cm for the floor, and 14 cm for the ceiling) and they offer 1.5 times the insulation values of XPS.
Photo: YouTube/German Television
The Aurum R1 is a year-rounder and it comes equipped with a mini-split for heat and AC to make it even more comfortable. On request, Aurum can install underfloor heating. On request, Aurum can do whatever you want to have extra as long as you can afford to pay for it.
The bathroom is right on the right as you enter – a compact space that could technically be described as a wet bathroom but which probably functions as a wet one. You get a corner vanity with a small sink, your choice of toilet (whether cassette or incinerating or even a plumbed one), and a small corner shower with a shower curtain but no visible shower tray.
Proof that this bathroom will work as a dry one is the inclusion of a full linen closet right next to the shower and additional storage on the other side.
Photo: Aurum Globe
The kitchen takes up the other half of the slide-out, so it’s just as compact. On an L-shaped kitchen block with engineered-stone counters, you get an induction or gas cooktop (two burners), a double-basin sink, a small fridge, and a microwave with a grill. You also get plenty of storage space for pots and pans and essentials, some of which you could sacrifice for an optional dishwasher or an oven.
In the opposing slide, you have space for a fold-out sofa and several cubbies. You won’t get enough storage space in this bedroom to live out of full time unless you’re a very, very passionate downsizer, but it will work just fine for extended vacations.
Features on the R1 include aluminum window frames, an aluminum door with digital lock that’s integrated into the Smart Home system, a water heater, reverse-osmosis water filtration, air filtration with automatic ventilation, a 100-liter (26.4-gallon) tank for freshwater, and an 110-liter (29-gallon) one for gray. Each R1 unit is meant to be customized, so you can order it without the tanks and have it hooked up to the mains on a piece of private land.
Photo: YouTube/German Television
The folding mechanism is made with industrial-components and is designed “for several thousand operating cycles,” Aurum says. It’s also designed to have parts and components serviced or replaced without having to take apart the entire house.
The Aurum R1 tips the scales at just 2,300 kg (5,070 lbs), which means it can be towed on a standard B Category driving license.
You can use the money you save from not upgrading your license and towing vehicle to pay for the R1. When we checked out the R2 on its debut, the plan was to make the R1 without slides and a starting price of €97,000, which would be $112,500 at the current exchange rate. The R1 has slides now but no longer an estimated price, so take that figure as a point of reference – and then add a few thousand more.
