In 1974, Ford president Lee Iacocca and a team of engineers headed by Hal Sperlich saw the need for a front-wheel-drive, car-based family van.
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.
Iacocca, who has been credited as the force behind the Ford Mustang, was an auto-industry titan by the early 1970s ...
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 1970s, Sperlich and Iacocca left Ford to join crosstown rival Chrysler. At that time, the Chrysler was in terrible shape. In 1980, US government was forced to guarantee almost $1.5 billion in loans to keep the company going.
Fortunately for Iacocca and Chrysler, Ford allowed the departing executing to take his the rights to his "mini" van project with him.
By 1983, Lee Iacocca's Chrysler minivan was ready.
On November 2, 1983, 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 1990.
People loved the van's roomy interior ...
... abundant cargo-hauling ability ...
... easy-access sliding door ...
... all wrapped up in a peppy car-like package.
Before the car-like Chrysler minivan, vans were either boxy affairs like the VW bus or ...
... truck-based affairs, such as the Ford Econoline.
The Chrysler vans were an immediate smash success — 209,000 sold in the first year.
Soon, rival carmakers launched their own minivans, such as the Chevrolet Astro and ...
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. By the early 1990s, the company was turning out iconic cars such as the Dodge Viper RT/10.
By the minivan's 10th birthday, the market had matured. Chrysler held as much as 40% of it. But its competitors had also stepped up their game.
In the early '90s, Toyota introduced the innovative but quirky Previa.
Ford dumped the truck-based Aerostar for the car-based Windstar.
GM introduced a trio of car-based minivans sold by its Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac divisions.
In 1995, Honda unveiled its underpowered and undersized Odyssey van.
Smaller players, such as Nissan, Mazda, and Mercury, all entered the market.
In 1996, Chrysler responded with the third-generation Dodge Caravan, Chrysler Town and Country, and Plymouth Voyager. In its first year out, the Caravan captured Motor Trend's coveted Car of the Year award.
The new Chrysler vans featured updated interiors and engines, marking significant upgrades in comfort, utility, and performance.
By the late 1990s, Honda and Toyota learned their lessons. They dumped their unorthodox designs and followed Chrysler's playbook. In 1997, Toyota launched their Kentucky-built Sienna minivan based on the company's award-winning Camry V6 sedan.
A year later, Honda launched their larger, more powerful Odyssey. By 2001, the minivan market peaked, with nearly 1.4 million sold.
During the mid-2000s, minivans sales began to slip.
Consumers began trending toward big SUVs, like the Cadillac Escalade or ...
... crossovers like the Jeep Cherokee for family-hauling duties.
Today, minivan sales are a mere fraction of what they were in their heyday. Fiat Chrysler's vans still hold one-quarter of the market, while Ford and GM have abandoned the market.
The Honda Odyssey and ...
... Toyota Sienna are the only other industry heavyweights left.
.... the Nissan Quest are also available but make up a much smaller share of the market.
Although today's minivans have gotten, bigger, faster, more refined, and more luxurious, they all still trade their roots back to the little Chrysler van that could from the 1984 model year.
