Reimagining the Minivan: The Shocking Rise of the Fallen? 265

John dives into the topic of minivan sales and the potential for a revival in the market. The discontinuation of certain minivan models, such as the Ford Transit Connect and Nissan NV200, is discussed as is the increase in sales for the Chrysler Pacifica. Of course, everyone should know John's love of the minivan and he emphasizes the practicality and affordability of minivans, arguing that they are a better choice for transporting cargo and people compared to SUVs. He tried to avoid the topic but the potential impact of an upcoming market-changing electric minivans was touched upon.No Driving Gloves WebsiteBuy us some Gas (a coffee)00:00 John Are we going to talk EVs? No, we're not. Well, we talked the UAW strike. Everybody else's. You didn't come here to hear more about the UAW strike and non-Evergreen content. You want new stuff, stuff you can listen to any day. Whatever. Wait till you hear the largely mini topic that we dive into.00:30 announcer Gloves are off. Welcome to the authority in car talk. No driving gloves. From exotics to hot rods to I'll get to it someday. Experience knowledge and controversy all right in the same suit. Buckle up and hang on for the ride. Now for your host of no driving gloves, John Fibiani.01:00 John We're enjoying a fine day. The weather's turning. Getting to be some good car driving weather out there. And I thought we should talk about a subject that's passionate to me. Something that just gets every car guy. It just strikes a mood with every car person. We've talked about them before here on No Driving Gloves. And like I said in the intro, we're not going to talk EVs. We're going to talk a potentially new and upcoming segment in the automotive industry. We're going to talk about the minivan. How the sales have kind of contracted, but we're looking to see potentially an explosion. An article came across my desk, and this might be one vehicle that really lights up this segment. And OK, it's electric. But if it lights up this segment, there's a lot of other vehicles that, you know, jump to mind that this will affect. I can't believe some of the stuff that's happened in the minivan realm lately. The fact that Ford discontinued the Transit Connect, that Nissan discontinued the NV200. Mercedes, well, I can understand Mercedes discontinuing the Metris, great vehicle, just kind of way out of its price. Even the sales that the Ram Promaster City, it has lost some of its sales. And it's also on, you know, after 23, all of those vehicles are gone. And it doesn't make sense. You look at the numbers and they chop those and the sales transfer and the sales transfer. Yeah, they declined a little bit with covid. And yeah, there's the shipping logistics and you might want to consolidate the world. But Ford has one of the best on the pro level packages available in the F-150 and vehicles like that. And I think the the Transit Connect would lend well to even going to a hybrid or electric city delivery vehicle like it should. And you could bring in and bring some of the Ford software, pro software. But even looking at the minivans that are currently on the market in the U.S. sales, there has been a decline with some. There has been an increase with others. I mean, the Chrysler Pacifica 2021 to 2022, 23 percent increase in sales. 143% increase in market share. The Toyota Sienna, the Honda Odyssey, both have decreased in sales. The Toyota Sienna is probably one of the best minivans out there. But you have to look at pricing. And the Pacifica is still the affordable leader in this. It's a family buying this. And a married couple with two kids or three children Their budgets are limited, and going out...