An original Magic wagon minivan in the background behind the 25th anniversary edition of the Chrysler minivan, in Windsor, Ont.DAVE CHIDLEY/The Canadian Press
For as long as I can remember, minivans have been uncool. These dull family-haulers were the least fashionable cars on the road and the fact that they aren’t dead yet, despite the rise of three-row SUVs, is a testament to the sheer usefulness of sliding doors and flat-folding seats.
Today, 40 years after the first ones hit the road, minivans are having a moment. Sales are on the rise and they seem strangely perfect for our electric future.
Like fashion, car design is cyclical. If dad hats, mom jeans and Y2K sunglasses can become cool again, then there’s hope for family vans. I’m not the only one who thinks the bubblicious Toyota Previa is looking good these days; one just sold at auction for US$14,000. Go walk around any trendy neighbourhood and you’ll probably spot at least one Japanese-import Mitsubishi Delica, a strange off-road minivan.
As millennials become parents, and minivans increasingly go electric, the genre is ripe for a shift from unattractive and uncool to nostalgic and retro. Minivans are almost a counter-culture choice at a time when tough-looking SUVs and trucks rule the road.
Chrysler, which launched North America’s first minivan in 1983, saw sales of its made-in-Canada Pacifica van skyrocket 120 per cent in the third quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2022. The jump is too big to be attributed to pent-up demand from last year’s supply shortages. Chrysler sold 112,000 Pacifica minivans through the third quarter in the United States this year, more than the full-year total in 2019.
“The minivan segment in North America actually increased 40 per cent in 2023 compared to 2022,” said Christine Feuell, chief executive officer of the Chrysler brand at Stellantis. “We’re still seeing the segment increasing probably 15 to 20 per cent next year, and then settling into a pretty consistent run right through 2030.”
Kia sold 40,084 Carnival minivans in the U.S. so far this year, an increase of nearly 60 per cent over 2021.Jeremy Sinek/The Globe and Mail
A strong minivan market is great for Chrysler and the workers in Windsor, Ont., who build those vans. (With the company discontinuing the 300 sedan this year, and its first EV – a crossover SUV – due in 2025, the only new vehicle the brand will sell in 2024 will be a minivan.)
Kia sold 40,084 Carnival minivans in the United States so far this year, an increase of nearly 60 per cent over 2021. (Apologies for using American sales figures here, but as the larger market, it will determine the minivan’s future.) Toyota’s Sienna didn’t fare as well in the United States, but in Canada the brand noted sales of the Sienna hybrid were up 20 per cent over last year.
Despite so many headlines proclaiming minivans are back, or that they’re doomed, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Trucks and SUVs make up more than 80 per cent of the market in Canada and, as Chrysler’s sales projections indicate, minivans might claw back a tiny sliver of market share, but no more.
Their high prices are a byproduct of their niche status, high-end features and inflation. The Sienna starts at more than $45,000. The Grand Caravan, which cost $27,995 in 2013, now starts at $50,000. The Pacifica plug-in hybrid is pushing $60,000. Minivans aren’t cheap, but then again, almost no new car is. The average transaction price of new vehicles in Canada hit a record high of $52,900 this year, according to an analysis by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.
With prices around $60,000, it’s no wonder Chrysler is seeing customers cross-shop its plug-in hybrid Pacifica with the all-electric Tesla Model Y SUV. Minivans are edging into luxury territory.
The flip side of such high prices is that it would make even pricier all-electric minivans more palatable to consumers; the sticker shock won’t be as severe.
What? You thought minivans wouldn’t survive the electric transition? Think again. Minivans are strangely well suited to battery power.
Minivans are typically lower and more aerodynamic than SUVs, which translates into greater driving range or smaller batteries – and therefore lower prices – than comparable electric SUVs.
Look at the Lucid Gravity, for example, the brand’s follow-up to the spectacular Air sedan. The Gravity is a minivan in disguise. It doesn’t have sliding doors, but when I saw it on display for the first time, its low height and cab-forward design give off an unmistakable minivan vibe. The same could be said of the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV.
The minivan’s efficiency both in terms of space and range make them uniquely suited to an electric future.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
Zeb Coughenour, interior design manager at Lucid Motors, told me that some of the initial design proposals were for a taller vehicle, but the Gravity’s low, aerodynamic shape won out because it was more efficient. And, moving the passenger cabin forward – which is possible because there’s no bulky gas-burning engine under the hood – frees up more space for passengers and cargo. It just makes sense.
In an electric future, what’s old may just be new again.
California-based EV upstart Canoo is staking its future on a brilliant pill-shaped electric minivan dubbed the Lifestyle Vehicle. (The company’s modular platform also supports a delivery van and pickup truck.) It was designed by Richard Kim, who who was also behind BMW’s mini-minivan, the i3.
Volvo recently announced its first minivan, the ultra-luxury, fully electric EM90. Initially, it’s being made only for the Chinese market where minivans have long been popular. And I’m hoping the sleek Hyundai Staria minivan sold in Europe makes it over to Canada some day.
Last but not least there is the upcoming Volkswagen ID Buzz, another all-electric minivan, complete with three rows and sliding doors and plenty of hype. (How many other new vehicles get a New Yorker magazine profile?) It’s a retro-future revival of the classic VW microbus, which should finally land in Canada in late 2024.
The minivan’s efficiency both in terms of space and range, plus the nostalgia factor, make them uniquely suited to an electric future. So, when will they arrive on Canadian roads? Volkswagen’s ID Buzz will be a test case next year. For now though, not even Chrysler has said anything about making a fully electric minivan.
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