And the mini van is turning 40 years old.
It only makes up about 1.8% of the car market
last year. But more and more families and adventurers
are thinking about getting one of these vehicles. Chatter
news, senior reporter Michelle Castillo looks back at the
history of this multi seater, the minivan, a
childhood rite of passage, a suburban staple. I
know people make fun of them and call them the
Dustbuster if anyone remembers what this is, but they're
awesome cars. They're roomy, they're reliable, they're
comfy. The term minivan was first used in 1959
to refer to a small van, but it wasn't
until 1984 when Chrysler introduced the Voyager and the caravan
that we saw the modern form. It gave tremendous
package versatility for carrying people and cargo. A number
of incorporated safety features and a sliding door. Fuel
is a proud owner of a Chrysler Pacifica. I'm
a very active outdoor person and cyclist and I can
put three or four bikes in the back of the
Pacifica leveraging the stow and go seating storage. That
practicality is what draws people in. Take the Toyota
Sienna, for example, you had the ability to
offer a package, front wheel drive, front engine
that gave you all the capabilities and drive ability like
a car. But gave you more packaging in a
van building on its heritage. Today's minivan is all
about providing a smooth ride. If you want additional
comfort, there's the and then all you have to
do additionally is just recline the seat and you can
take a nap as well as being an entertainment center
. We've integrated fire TV into the rear seat entertainment
systems and they've become electrified. The latest models of
the Pacifica and Sienna are hybrid. So now all
of a sudden you get power but you also get
the efficiency you really want and need with a hauler
that can take you a long way and with the
advancements, a new generation of families, empty nesters
and road trip enthusiasts are all embracing minivans. I
think they got a little bit of swag to them
. Right. It's confident, right? It's a
big car, you know, in New York,
I'm Michelle Casillo there, Michelle. So I want
to talk a little bit more about this minivan.
The minivan customers base is stereotypically, families are these
companies trying to expand. You might be surprised to
find out that last year, minivans only made up
1.8% of auto sales, but they do have a
lot of die hard customers. But right now companies
like are seeing that they're having two main customers families
like you pointed out to and people who like long
road trips, outdoors people, they're also starting to
see a growing segment of empty nesters and grandparents being
more into these minivans because they have a lot of
space and they're a comfortable ride. The one thing
that has really held people back from minivans though is
the idea that they, but these new hybrid models
, the Chrysler Pacifica in particular, it's actually a
plug in hybrid. So you can get that charge
while still being partially gas dependent. They're getting pretty
good MPG. So the Pacifica, for example,
that gets 2032 MPG. The Sienna is getting 36
MPG. It's pretty comparable to your compact car.
So Michelle, I know I'm in the minority,
but I actually have a minivan and I love it
. What kind of minivan do you have? I
got a Kia minivan. It's not fancy, it's
just very, very comfortable. Would you ever own
one? Ok. So I don't own a minivan
. I own a crossover, I guess like SUV
, I have a mini Cooper countryman, but I
have to admit the majority of time I spent in
the pandemic was in a minivan. So when we
were out on the field, you're going to see
that. That's great. White. That's our shooter
, Steve cos minivan, we took it to Camden
New Jersey. This is taking a nap. This
is the Gray Ghost. The second generation the both
Honda Odyssey to, to Boston. It is very
comfortable. We spent so much time in the minivan
just because you need a place to chill when you're
in the field. So I do have a special
place in my heart even though it's not my car
, I definitely spent a lot of time in minivans
being especially at work. Only 1.8% but maybe it
could be growing soon. Thanks so much.