A Swedish leisure vehicle group has just reported that Britain is one of the three markets pulling its numbers up. Not Germany, the biggest market in Europe. Britain.

KABE Group, the Swedish maker that owns Coachman and Affinity, distributes Adria across the Nordics and runs the KAMA Fritid accessory business, lifted group net sales 11% to SEK 2,794m (about £211m) for the nine months to the end of September, and more than doubled operating profit to SEK 196m (£14.8m) from SEK 83m (£6.3m). In the third quarter alone, sales jumped 31% to SEK 884m (£66.9m).

Pound figures throughout use the spot rate on 6 November 2026, about SEK 13.2 to the pound.

Read past the group totals. The line that matters for a UK dealer is buried in the commentary: KABE names Britain, Norway and Sweden as the markets driving the growth, and singles out rising British consumer interest in its products. A foreign-owned group is growing here while the home trade shrinks.

What the Numbers Actually Say

The headline is a strong quarter. The detail is where the money came from.

Group operating margin for the nine months reached 7.0%, up from 3.3% a year earlier. That is the gap between selling vans and keeping the profit on them, and it has widened sharply.

Two things lifted it. Higher volumes in the Nordics and the UK, and a product mix that leans premium. KABE says Nordic demand for leisure vehicles is holding up better than the rest of Europe, while Germany, the largest market on the continent, stays hesitant.

Britain is the standout among the growth markets. KABE’s nine-month sales into the UK rose to SEK 615m (£46.5m) from SEK 531m (£40.2m), a 16% increase, on the company’s own segment figures. That is growth into a market where domestic caravan registrations fell around 7% in 2025.

Set those two facts side by side. The UK caravan market is contracting. KABE’s UK sales are climbing. The group is taking share, not riding a rising tide.

The Coachman Engine Under the UK Numbers

The UK growth has a name, and it is Coachman.

Coachman is KABE’s British brand, built in Hull and sold as a premium caravan. Its nine-month sales rose 16% to SEK 620m (£46.9m). KABE reports Coachman gaining market share and strengthening its position at the premium end of the British caravan market, on the back of an updated range.

The company is blunt about the context. It says Coachman is growing share in a market where total sales keep falling and the wider economy stays difficult. That is the hard version of the story: one brand winning a bigger slice of a smaller pie.

There is a second move that should hold a dealer’s attention. KABE has set up a new production line for vans at Coachman’s English plant, building motorhomes under the Coachman badge for the British market first. The group makes its van bodies at KABE in Sweden and finishes them in England.

So the owner of a British caravan brand is using it to push into UK motorhomes, the part of the market that has held up while caravans slid. That is a read on where the demand is, and it matches what we have tracked in motorhome volumes outrunning caravans.

A Second Hull Building, in a Flat Market

While parts of the UK trade cut costs, KABE is buying property here.

The group confirms it acquired a production building in Hull during the second quarter, next to Coachman’s existing plant, to expand English manufacturing capacity. It says the new Coachman motorhomes will launch on the British market first.

Weigh that against the mood of the rest of the trade. Show footfall has flattened, a long-standing Cheshire dealer has filed for administration, and two mainstream print magazines have closed. KABE’s response to the same flat market is to add a building and a product line.

Be fair about what this is. KABE is a large, profitable group with a net cash position of SEK 443m (£33.5m) and the balance sheet to invest through a soft patch. A single-site UK dealer does not have that cushion. The two are not playing the same game.

But the direction tells you something. A group with options has looked at the UK, in a flat year, and chosen to expand production rather than trim it. That is a vote on where it thinks British demand is heading over the next few years, even if this year is hard.

What This Means for UK Dealers

Three things to do with this, not three things to note.

Treat the premium end as the part that is still moving. KABE’s UK growth is Coachman, and Coachman sells at the top of the caravan market. The buyers left in a shrinking category are older, settled and clearer about what they want. Pull your own sales by price band for the last two years. If the premium and repeat-buyer end is holding while the entry end softens, weight your stock and marketing to match.

Watch the Coachman motorhome line before your customers ask about it. A new UK-built Coachman motorhome range is coming, launched here first. If you hold the Coachman caravan franchise, ask your area manager now what the motorhome plan means for your territory, your margins and your workshop. If you do not, know what is arriving so you can answer the buyer who walks in having read about it.

Do not read a Swedish group’s good quarter as a British recovery. KABE grew by taking share and selling premium, in a market where registrations fell. A rival winning is not the same as the market lifting. Judge your own year on what you kept and which layouts actually sold, not on a trade headline about someone else’s profit.

The Signal for Next Year

KABE’s results are a read on the UK market as much as on the company. The growth here is real, but it is narrow: premium caravans, a motorhome push, one brand taking share while the category contracts.

The group backing that read with a building and a production line is the part worth sitting with. A foreign owner is investing in UK manufacturing and UK market share in a flat year, on the bet that the premium and motorhome ends hold while the rest thins out.

So here is the question for your forecourt. When the growth in your market is going to disciplined, well-stocked, premium operators, and a Swedish group is building a factory to chase it, which side of that line is your stock on?