When was the first minivan invented

These also explain the appeal of the vehicle. Not only did it fit in a garage like a car, but it actually drove like a car, while also providing plenty of room for the kids and luggage and giving mom a nice, high view of the road. That, it seems, was a bit of value engineering that just stuck. From early in the design process, it was determined that the new vehicle would be targeted toward families.

The sliding door made it easy to for people to quickly enter or exit the vehicle and, with its lack of hinges, the sliding door was seen as a safer option for children. When the van debuted, no one complained.

So why mess with success? Not only that, but they created an entirely new market. Honest in the sense that is is designed to be utilitarian. Yet it is clean and pleasant to look at.

Around , Volkswagen flirted with a concept van meant to bring back the Microbus. It was fun looking, but ultimately too expensive to produce and sell against far less expensive U. More recently, VW has shown a new concept vehicle at auto shows that would be a "micro-van" reminder of the Microbus that seats just five people. The Espace's design is said to have been originally conceived in the s by a British designer, Fergus Pollock, who was working for Chrysler's U.

In , when Chrysler was struggling financially and raising funds, it sold its U. The van design was given to French design house Matra that had had an affiliation with Chrysler. Matra then took the design to Renault , and the result was the Espace, introduced the same year as the first Chrysler minivan. GM was late to the minivan market and launched three for the model year.

The minivans were front-wheel-drive and characterized by plastic body panels that could absorb the blows from wayward shopping carts and its "dust-buster" profile. The GM minivans were often derided by journalists and the public for the long front-end snout and sloppy handling. Today, the fourth-generation Odyssey ranks among the three best-selling vehicles in segment.

The car competes directly with some of the premium options available on the Sienna Limited, offering a speaker system on its Touring Elite model, voice-controlled GPS, a After inventing the minivan as we know it in the early s, Chrysler was the first to attempt to add luxury to the segment in the late s.

It had one-upped everyone else on the crucial fold-away seating innovation. In celebrating that, Nissan has come up with a vehicle that stands out among the family-oriented segment — a "fluid sculpture" body to the Quest , which was most recently overhauled in Depending on your perspective, it's a bold step in the right direction or a little too much of a breakaway from type.

Still, it's got a 3. With all the engine and fuel economy specs in line with its competition, the Quest gives drivers concerned with exterior appearance a chance to stand out from the minivan pack. We get it. Ads can be annoying. Sperlich's team concocted a special prototype van. Since Ford didn't have a front-wheel-drive platform on which the van could be built, they instead used a chassis and engine from Honda.

With the runaway success of the Mustang, Iacocca had become an auto-industry titan by the early s Yet, he was still afraid that company boss Henry Ford II would kill off his pet project. So Iacocca and Sperlich kept their prototype van hidden in the basement. According to Iacocca, Ford's management was a hesitant to sign off on the unorthodox van and the project was tabled. By the late s, Sperlich and Iacocca left Ford to join crosstown rival Chrysler.

At that time, the Chrysler was in terrible shape. Fortunately for Iacocca and Chrysler, Ford allowed the departing executing to take the rights to his "mini" van project with him. By , Lee Iacocca's Chrysler minivan was ready.

On November 2, , the first minivan — a Plymouth Voyager — rolled off the production line in Windsor, Ontario. That's right, the first minivan was actually Canadian! Initially, the minivan was sold under the Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan monikers. The upscale Chrysler Town and Country variant followed in People loved the van's roomy interior Before the car-like Chrysler minivan, vans were either boxy affairs like the VW bus or The Chrysler vans were an immediate smash success — , sold in the first year.

Soon, rival carmakers launched their own minivans, such as the Chevrolet Astro and Ford Aerostar. Toyota spruced up their plainly named Van to better compete. Volkswagen did the same with its venerable Vanagon. In Europe, Renault launched their Espace just months after the debut of the Chrysler. The success of the minivans along with the company's K-car sedans saved Chrysler from the brink of financial disaster.