What happened to vans?

[_19disnA]

Sales of minivans peaked in early 2000. Their volume has continued to drop since then. GM/Ford no longer sell a mini-van but a few other companies do.

SUV sales have grown significantly while mini-van sales have dropped off, we probably all have our opinions of why that might be and likely there is no one reason for that. Other charts from various websites can only be viewed if you belong to that site. These were a couple of the easily available charts for comparison purposes.

 

[tvguy]

Sales of minivans peaked in early 2000. Their volume has continued to drop since then. GM/Ford no longer sell a mini-van but a few other companies do.

SUV sales have grown significantly while mini-van sales have dropped off, we probably all have our opinions of why that might be and likely there is no one reason for that. Other charts from various websites can only be viewed if you belong to that site. These were a couple of the easily available charts for comparison purposes.

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Mini van sales have plunged. But Ford still makes the Transit Connect mini van.
https://www.ford.com/commercial-tru...an/models/transit-connect-xl-passenger-wagon/

 

[Dan Murphy]

SUV type vehicles became more popular, tended to be more stylish and could be used for many purposes. Most mini-vans looked like boxes on wheels.

I think, IMO, that almost every suv looks like a box, albeit with a hood, on wheels.

IMO, came about because of the Humvee (people wanting similar

When the Humvee came back after the Gulf War, and a few celebs bought one so as 'to be seen', I think regular folk wanted something similar, to be seen. Bigger was better, higher was better, cubic yardage of storage was better, etc.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Mini van sales have plunged. But Ford still makes the Transit Connect mini van.
https://www.ford.com/commercial-tru...an/models/transit-connect-xl-passenger-wagon/

The Transit, in so very many configurations, has been a great success story for Ford, since its most recent styling change in .2006.

 

[RamblingMad]

The current problem with SUVs is the lack of space. I remember station wagons as a kid that had far more space than most SUVs today.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

The car market is constantly evolving. Crossovers/SUVs offer a higher seating position that is easier for people to get in/out of without a huge increase in cost or decrease in fuel mileage. Cargo space is worse than a van but people just buy the next size up SUV to compensate.

As a station wagon fan I hate it but the car market is constantly evolving. Equally as puzzling to the disappearance of vans would be the low sales of sedans. The Camry/Civic are no longer selling in big numbers and manufacturers are quickly reducing the number of sedans they are selling. Chevy only offers the Malibu now, Ford has nothing in that space, etc.

The SUV market, again IMO, came about because of the Humvee (people wanting similar but not the cost or terrible gas mileage).

The Ford Explorer is really what kicked off the modern SUV market. The team hit a homerun with that one.

 

[mylilnikita]

Vans are still around. I’m watching a show and they hold a convention every year the National Truck in.