Careful how you say futuristic looking.

GM's gone down the road of futuristic looking minivans before. Trans Vans & Silouettes aren't remembered as the most practical minivan designs ever.... and Chrysler still whopped them.

 

They can push the FWD minivan program of a cliff and I wouldnt bat an eye.
However as a electrical contractor, our company has a fleet of Astro/safaris that are beaten without mercy daily. And some are due for replacement.
So their passing is signifigant in this market segment(however small it may be) when they where the only game in town.

What do we replace them with ? Sprinters$$?

 

I think the figures show that the minivan market has reached it's peek...that isn't to say, however, that there is no market...I'd say it's likely that there will be a minivan market for many years to come.

A crossover simply doesn't do what a great minivan can do and if you need a minivan you aren't going to buy a crossover isnted.

That said, GM probably made a very smart move here as they simply weren't in the same ball park with Chrysler/Honda/Toyota and if you either can't afford to compete or don't really want to compete then it's better to put your resources elsewhere.

 

I'd say you have a better chance of selling parkas to accountants in hell than selling minivans to Gen X and Y'ers.

 

I'll say it like this.

To see GM totally give up on the minivan market is to say Toyota or the Asians will not build a pick-up.

It just ain't gonna happen.

If at first you don't succeed, then try again. The Asians have done that. What makes you think GM won't do the same?

Perhaps production this early was ill-advised by plant officials and GM never planned to produce them there at all, which is what we have seen. The Lambda mini's ARE a good 4 years off from production to begin with.

But, I'm baffled that people are not raising a stink at exactly what will be produced in Spring Hill. There's no way GM is going to keep that plant idled for too long, especially when they said "the plant is getting new product."

We have an abundance of capacity in North America, yet no "official" vehicles to be produced here nor there.

But, Bob did say that at least one RWD vehicle from Zeta would be produced in North America. Are the pieces starting to fall into place yet?

 

While killing off their minivans is probably the right thing for them to do financially, it's pretty sad when the world's largest automaker can't make a competitive minivan.

Heck, even KIA sells a minivan.

 

I agree. Actually, the 1997 Venture was very competitive when it came out, but (surprise, surprise) GM let it wither away until it became the joke it is today. Maybe if GM didn't have so many divisions to feed it could afford to have competitive entries in all of the mainstream categories

With a decent vehicle GM should still be able to sell 150-200k minivans a year. That's worth a point of marketshare and is a higher volume than most of the other vehicles in GM's stable, so I don't see why they can't make a case for it.

 

GM is betting on the mini-van market to fall through to the crossover market. Its a gamble, but with them being strapped for cash and needing profits, I think they are trying to be an industry leader in the future crossover market instead of just another automaker in the mini van market.

 

Uh, yeah ... Camaro/Zeta/Oshawa ... ... and??

Exactly ... whether it pans out or not is yet to be determined, but for "once" they're maybe going to try and "lead" instead of "follow"??

 

I agree, with aging baby boomers moving into more "couple" oriented cars like Cadillacs, they need to appeal to a younger more informed demographic in a time when minivans just aren't that cool, but sport 4x4's and crossovers are socially acceptable alternatives.
As a former owner of minivans, I now would buy a full sized van, if I needed a van, or crossover if I wanted a more compact people hauler.
Food for thought...:
How many tricked out minivans are on the street?