 A modern minivan - 2004 Chrysler Town & Country
 Typical early minivan (a Dodge Caravan) A minivan, people carrier, multi utility vehicle (MUV),or multi purpose vehicle (MPV) is a type of vehicle which has a body that resembles a van, but which has rear side doors, rear side windows, and interior fittings to accommodate passengers similar to a station wagon. Minivans are higher than normal sedans, compacts and station wagons, and are designed for maximum interior room; minivans often feature three seat rows and can seat 7 people or more. The design was developed independently in the late 1970s and early 1980s by Matra/Renault and the Chrysler Corporation. Minivan is the more usual term in North American English whilst the other two terms predominate elsewhere in the English speaking world. In India, however, the acronym used is MUV, in line with a similar acronym, SUV. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 379 KB) 2004 Chrysler Town and Country File links The following pages link to this file: Minivan Chrysler Town and Country ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 379 KB) 2004 Chrysler Town and Country File links The following pages link to this file: Minivan Chrysler Town and Country ...
I took this picture May 13, 2004--only modification is cropping. ...
I took this picture May 13, 2004--only modification is cropping. ...
Van can mean: Van, a road vehicle. ...
Estate car body style (Saab 95) A station wagon (United States usage), wagon (Australian usage, though station wagon is widely used) or estate car (United Kingdom usage) is a car body style similar to a sedan car but with an extended rear cargo area. ...
The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ...
The 1980s, in its most obvious sense, was the decade between 1980 and 1989. ...
Mécanique Avion TRAction or Matra is a French company covering a wide range of activities mainly related to aeronautics and weaponry which today operates as the Lagardère Group. ...
Renault S.A. is a French vehicle manufacturer producing small to upper-midsize cars, vans, buses and trucks. ...
The Chrysler Corporation (NYSE: DCX) is a formerly United States-based automobile manufacturer. ...
North American English is a collective term to describe the varieties of the English language that are spoken in the United States and Canada. ...
The term Anglosphere describes a certain group of English-speaking countries. ...
Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial letter or letters of words, such as NATO and XHTML, and are pronounced in a way that is distinct from the full pronunciation of what the letters stand for. ...
A sport utility vehicle (SUV) or off-roader is a vehicle that combines the load-hauling and passenger-carrying capacity of a large station wagon or minivan with features designed for off-road driving. ...
History
The minivan design was launched simultaneously by Renault (Renault Espace) and Chrysler (Dodge Caravan) in 1984. Though these two cars were developed almost entirely separately, they can each trace their roots back to the same point: the minivan design was originally conceived in the late-1970's by the French manufacturer Matra, who were then affiliated with Simca and Talbot, the former European subsidiaries of the Chrysler Corporation, who were sold in 1977 to the PSA Group (Peugeot-Citroën). The Matra design was originally intended to be sold as a Talbot, and to be a replacement for the Talbot-Matra-Simca Rancho station wagon. Early prototypes were designed to use Simca parts, and hence featured a grille reminiscent of the Simca 1307. However, after acquiring all of Chrysler's European assets, PSA decided the design was too expensive and risky to put into production, and Matra took their idea to Renault, who agreed (PSA finally ventured into the minivan sector 11 years later with the Citroën Evasion/Peugeot 806). The Matra concept became the Renault Espace. However, Chrysler, under whom Matra had originally conceived the Espace, had also been developing Matra's minivan concept themselves, and managed to release their own Dodge Caravan a year earlier than the Espace in 1983. The term "minivan" derived from the fact that cars such as the Dodge Caravan were considerably smaller than traditional North American passenger vans such as the Ford E-Series. The Renault Espace is an MPV/minivan automobile produced by the French manufacturer Matra and marketed by Renault. ...
The Dodge Caravan (also Dodge Grand Caravan) is a minivan marketed by the Chrysler Corporation. ...
1984 (MCMLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Simca Rallye 2 Simca is a now-defunct French automobile manufacturer, which also produced cars in Brazil in the 1960s. ...
Talbot is an automobile brand, whose history is one of the industrys most complex. ...
The PSA Peugeot Citroën Group (in French, Groupe PSA) is a vehicle company that owns the marques Peugeot and Citroën. ...
Estate car body style (Saab 95) A station wagon (United States usage), wagon (Australian usage, though station wagon is widely used) or estate car (United Kingdom usage) is a car body style similar to a sedan car but with an extended rear cargo area. ...
The Simca 1307 was a mid-sized hatchback car, sold by Chrysler in Europe and Talbot between 1975 and 1985. ...
Renault S.A. is a French vehicle manufacturer producing small to upper-midsize cars, vans, buses and trucks. ...
1998 SX 2. ...
The Peugeot 806 is an european MPV seating up to 8 people. ...
The Dodge Caravan (also Dodge Grand Caravan) is a minivan marketed by the Chrysler Corporation. ...
1983 (MCMLXXXIII) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America North America is a continent in the northern hemisphere bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the...
The Ford E-Series, also known as the Econoline, is a line of full-size vans (both cargo and passenger) and truck chassis from Ford Motor Company. ...
The target market for the minivan was families living in suburban areas. This vehicle was a cross between the station wagon and the large work vans that people would customize for passenger travel. In North America, it came at a time when families wanted a different vehicle that didn't have the stigma of the station wagon era of their parents, and also wanted better fuel economy than that of the previously popular V8-powered station wagons/vans. A target market is the market segment which a particular product is marketed to. ...
It has been suggested that Suburbia be merged into this article or section. ...
Estate car body style (Saab 95) A station wagon (United States usage), wagon (Australian usage, though station wagon is widely used) or estate car (United Kingdom usage) is a car body style similar to a sedan car but with an extended rear cargo area. ...
Estate car body style (Saab 95) A station wagon (United States usage), wagon (Australian usage, though station wagon is widely used) or estate car (United Kingdom usage) is a car body style similar to a sedan car but with an extended rear cargo area. ...
Fuel efficiency, sometimes also referred to as fuel economy and commonly gas mileage in the United States, is a numeric measure often used to describe the amount of fuel consumed with regard to the distance travelled in a transportation vehicle, such as an automobile. ...
The Liberty V8 aircraft engine clearly shows the configuration A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders. ...
The minivan also offered another change from the large van or the station wagon: front wheel drive, usually found only on smaller automobiles. This made for easier assembly of the vehicle, and allowed for more cargo/passenger area along the floor with the absence of the drive shaft hump. Minivans typically have removable seats and with the seats removed, the cargo area in the larger minivans can hold a 4'x8' sheet of drywall or plywood flat. Front wheel drive is the most common form of engine/transmission layout used in modern passenger cars, where the engine drives the front wheels. ...
Drywall, the ubiquitous interior building material. ...
Plywood was the first type of engineered wood to be invented. ...
In the USA, in order for the style of minivan to circumvent the 1980s emission standards, the minivan had to be classified as a truck and could not have four doors like a car. Early US minivans such as the Dodge Caravan were three door configurations with a sliding curbside door. Emission standards limit the amount of pollution that can be released into the atmosphere. ...
Early minivans came with four-cylinder motors, which although they were more efficient, were not able to meet the life span of bigger engines. It was common to require major engine repairs on the four cylinder motors. The vehicles were also extremely sluggish when these small engines were paired with hydraulic automatic transmissions. Later six cylinder motors were offered and have become a standard choice by purchasers who plan to operate the vehicle for many years. Minivans are also notorious for having problems with their transaxles. Gasoline (or petrol) engine is a type of internal combustion engine which is often used for automobiles, aircraft, small mobile vehicles such as lawnmowers or motorcycles, and outboard motors for boats. ...
Hydraulics is a branch of science and engineering concerned with the mechanical properties of liquids. ...
An automatic transmission is an automobile gearbox that can change gear ratios automatically as the car or truck moves, thus freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually. ...
A transaxle, in the automotive field, is a component that combines the functionality of the transmission, the differential and the drive axle into a single unit. ...
Current models Modern minivans are now very similar to station wagons except they have a higher profile. Also, their hood is shorter, as they have more vertical room. Current models have two sliding doors, or normal doors if they are compact minivans. All minivans sold in North America have sliding doors, with the exception of the first-generation Mazda MPV, Honda Odyssey and Isuzu Oasis. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mazda MPV The Mazda MPV (also sold as the Efini MPV) is a full-sized minivan. ...
2006 Mazda5 The Mazda5 is a small (C-class) minivan from Mazda which has been on sales since Summer 2005. ...
World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America North America is a continent in the northern hemisphere bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the...
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mazda MPV The Mazda MPV (also sold as the Efini MPV) is a full-sized minivan. ...
The Honda Odyssey is a minivan manufactured by Honda. ...
The Isuzu Oasis is a minivan and the result of a joint venture between Isuzu and Honda. ...
Today, many minivan manufacturers, including Ford, GM, and DaimlerChrysler also offer their minivans as cargo vans rather than passenger vans. These cargo vans are usually available only through fleet sales. Ford may mean a number of things: A ford is a river crossing. ...
General Motors Corporation NYSE: GM, also known as GM, is a United States-based automobile maker with worldwide operations and brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Vauxhall. ...
DaimlerChrysler AG (FWB: DCX, NYSE: DCX, TYO: 7663 ), headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany and Auburn Hills, Michigan, is a prominent automobile and truck manufacturer and financial services provider (through DaimlerChrysler Services). ...
The trend for compact minivans (or mini-MPVs) began in Europe in the late 1990s with the launch of the Renault Scénic. Compact minivans were usually cars with minivan bodies but based on the chassis and engines of a compact car (in the case of the Scénic, the Renault Mégane). The runaway success of the Scénic saw the car spawn a multitude of imitators, including the General Motors Zafira, the Citroën Xsara Picasso, the Volkswagen Touran and the Nissan Almera Tino. By the mid-2000s, virtually all mainstream automakers in Europe had a mini-MPV in their range. Also in the mid-2000s, manufacturers began to use minivan-style designs on even smaller chassis, in cars such as the Opel Meriva, based on the Corsa supermini. The 1990s refers to the years 1990 to 1999; the last decade of the 20th Century, but in an economical sense The Nineties is often considered to span from the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 to the September 11 attacks in 2001. ...
The Renault Mégane Scénic was the first European car of its kind: a five-seater based on the chassis of a compact hatchback (in this case the Mégane which had been launched a year earlier) but with a high roof to give it the appearance and practicality...
The Rambler American introduced in the late 1950s was an early compact car. ...
The Renault Mégane is a compact automobile made by Renault. ...
Opel Zafira The Zafira is a car from General Motors, branded as an Opel in Europe, except for the UK, where it is branded as a Vauxhall. ...
The Citroën Xsara was an automobile made by Citroën from 1997 to 2004. ...
2005 Volkswagen Touran The Volkswagen Touran is a compact minivan based on a vertically stretched 5th generation of the Volkswagen Golf and sold in Europe. ...
Saddam Hussein shortly after his capture Major controversy over U. S. presidential election (November 7-December 13, 2000) September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New Yorks World Trade Center and Virginias Pentagon killing almost 3000 people. ...
Saddam Hussein shortly after his capture Major controversy over U. S. presidential election (November 7-December 13, 2000) September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New Yorks World Trade Center and Virginias Pentagon killing almost 3000 people. ...
Opel Meriva The Opel Meriva is a small minivan based on the platform of the third generation Opel Corsa and sold under that name on all of the European markets with the exception of the UK, where its called Vauxhall Meriva. ...
2003 Vauxhall Corsa The Corsa is a small car or subcompact produced by General Motors in Europe. ...
A supermini can be: A car size class used in Europe. ...
In the ASEAN nations and India, because of the wide geography of the region, MUVs tend to be smaller cars that can cope with the terrain. Among these MUVs are the Chevrolet Tavera/Isuzu Panther, Ford Fusion, Hindustan Pushpak, Toyota Qualis (replaced by the Toyota Innova), etc. Main languages See Languages of ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong of Singapore Area - Total 4,480,000 km2 Population - Total (2004) - Density 550,000,000 122. ...
The Chevrolet Tavera is an MUV that is sold in the ASEAN market and India. ...
Ford Fusion is a name used on two different types of cars from the Ford Motor Company. ...
The Toyota Innova is an MUV that replaced the Toyota Qualis in India. ...
Public image in the USA Minivans have a mixed image. They have a reputation for poor maneuverability and performance in comparison with other types of vehicles. However, they are also the vehicle of choice for large suburban families, and are frequently associated with "soccer moms". Perhaps because of these associations, minivan are often seen as dowdy or boring. Many buyers who need a car with a large amount of luggage and passenger space prefer the rugged, go-anywhere image of SUVs or the sporty, upscale image of European station wagons like the BMW 3 Series or the Volvo V70 provide. In United States social, cultural and political discourse, soccer mom refers broadly to a demographic group of women with school-age children. ...
A sport utility vehicle (SUV) or off-roader is a vehicle that combines the load-hauling and passenger-carrying capacity of a large station wagon or minivan with features designed for off-road driving. ...
The BMW 3 Series is a line of compact luxury cars manufactured by BMW since May 1975. ...
The Volvo V70 is a full-size station wagon. ...
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