It continues to fall from a high of about 900,000 new buyers to the segment in 1994 to about 500,000 in 2005. Additionally, the median age of the minivan buyer, currently 51, is increasing more rapidly than in other segments of the industry. Yet we know that in spite of their stigma, minivans are great vehicles. The fundamentals make total sense. There is no more efficient vehicle.
Quotes about minivans (9 Quotes)
It is defining a new segment, and it'll do it big time, ... It's not a low volume segment. It could be as big as minivans. My belief is it'll reshape our whole idea of how we think about a small car.
Automakers are improving the geometry of their head restraints, compared with the last time we evaluated them. Still, in this group of minivans the Fords are the only models with good dynamic performance for all of their seat designs. Many of the seathead restraints we evaluated didn't even get to the testing stage because of marginal or poor geometry. These cannot begin to protect most people in rear-end crashes.
It's gone from a circus act to a regular city. The experience of Las Vegas now is less Rat Pack and more brats in the car, from Dino (Dean Martin) and his friends and swingers to minivans and shopping malls. It's just a big Western city.
We strengthened our leadership position in key segments such as minivans and large cars with our sales in January. Our car business is up 20 percent, and our LX products are up 62 percent. The Dodge Caliber begins production today and gives us a strong entry into the small car segment with an attractive price starting at 13,985. We are now a full-time car player.
Manufacturers should follow the lead of Honda, Nissan and Toyota in making head-protecting side air bags standard in their minivans. Important safety equipment like this shouldn't be optional.
In each of the top-performing minivans, the curtain airbags did a good job of keeping the dummies' heads from being struck by the intruding barrier. This is important because head injuries are factors in many serious side impact crashes, especially when the striking vehicle is a pickup or SUV with a tall front end.
We decided to make this RAV4 bigger to attract more families and those who prefer to buy minivans,
Its disappointing that so many minivan seats are rated poor for rear impact protection. Drivers of minivans spend a lot of time on urban and suburban roads where rear-end collisions are common in stop-and-go traffic.