>"Chrysler invented the modern minivan - twice.

Chrysler could only convince ITSELF of that! What planet does it live on?

>Richard
>Moss pointed out that Chrysler Europe was working with
>Matra on a minivan in the late 1970s / early 1980s.
>... Matra took the design to Renault, which modified
>it to fit the Renault 21 drivetrain...

Matra was BOUGHT by Renault... who made the first nonvan MPV, the Espace.

>resulting in a
>calendar-year 1983 introduction and Europe's most
>popular minivan. ... The American Plymouth Voyager and
>Dodge Caravan were also introduced in 1983, as 1984
>models."
>
>The article seems to ignore the existence of VW
>Vanagons on American streets as early as 1980(!), and
>if the earlier Busses/Transporters weren't "mini
>vans", I don't know what is.

The VW is a van. The Voyager and its ilk are not vans, they are
stationwagons designed to carry more than 5 people; the term for
these is MPV or multiperson vehicle. The only vehicle I can think of
right now which bridges the gap between true vans and MPVs is the
Toyota Estima (=Previa), which is a vanlike MPV.

Of course many real vans are offered with MPV capability, beginning
with VW's Kombi in the earliest 50s.
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
Fossil preparator
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut

HUMANITY: THE ULTIMATE VON NEUMANN MACHINE

DEMOCRACY: RULE BY THE LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR