Need lots of room? Minivans aren't only option
DETROIT -- Sandi DiPaola, a stay-at-home mom, traded in her family's big conversion van for a Dodge Caravan minivan this past year.
Her reasons for doing so were as straightforward as they always have been for those who buy minivans: DiPaola, 38, travels heavy. She needed space for her husband, twin 9-year-old sons, a 4-year-old daughter, and a gaggle of friends and possessions. She also wanted something fuel-efficient.
DiPaola considered a Chrysler Pacifica crossover for a moment, but ultimately decided on the minivan.
``Nothing else really met our needs," she said. ``We did not like anything else."
If more DiPaolas were out there, Detroit automakers might not have so much to worry about in the profitable minivan segment, which has made up about 12 percent of light-truck sales for a few years.
But across the country, consumers are finding they have other choices, such as the Pacifica, when it comes to fuel-efficient vehicles with a lot of cargo space.
Thousands of minivan drivers are switching to cars and crossovers: vehicles that look like SUVs or tall wagons but are more fuel-efficient and handle more like cars. And many of those who stick with minivans are choosing import brands, such as the
This year, minivan sales are down 9.6 percent, and
Sales of GM minivans are down about 35 percent this year, and the company has lost 4.2 percentage points of minivan market share. GM said recently that it will eliminate a shift at a minivan plant in Georgia in September.
At Ford, sales of minivans like the Freestar are down 30.3 percent, and the company's share of the minivan market has slipped 2.1 percentage points.
``They've fallen off a cliff," Erich Merkle said of the minivan performances of GM and Ford. Merkle is director of forecasting for IRN Inc., a consulting firm in Grand Rapids, Mich. Together, GM and Ford now sell fewer than 17 percent of the minivans bought in the United States.
Tom Libby, a senior director of industry analysis at the Power Information Network, a division of JD Power and Associates, says GM and Ford are regrouping.
There's speculation that Ford will position its Fairlane concept vehicle as the family hauler of the future. GM has kept its minivan plans under wraps, though it will launch a line this year of large crossovers that will seat up to eight.
Meanwhile, the Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country minivans, built by Chrysler Group, still lead the industry in sales volumes. They typically have lower sticker prices than the Toyota and
It's difficult to emphasize just how important minivans are to Chrysler.
Minivans are the top-selling product at
To stay on top, Chrysler is scheduled to introduce new versions of its minivans next year and has charged designers with delighting customers. For now, though, foreign rivals are hot on Chrysler's tail and chipping away at GM and Ford sales.
The Toyota Sienna, Kia
Those three automakers have picked up 5.2 percentage points of market share in the past year, and, collectively, they now sell 38.4 percent of all the minivans bought in the United States.
GM and Ford have at least managed to capture former minivan customers as they move to cars and crossover vehicles. According to the Power Information Network, about 16.5 percent of customers who trade in a minivan move to a car and 15.1 percent move to a crossover. GM and Ford are currently picking up crossover sales. In addition, Ford is gaining in passenger-car sales. GM car sales are down 12.9 percent this year.
Merkle said that both companies need to correct their course on minivans. ``It's not as important as the SUVs and pickups, but when you start looking at it in the scheme of things, it's definitely more profitable than many cars and even some of their larger upscale sedans," he said.
Merkle said GM and Ford could probably be successful without minivans in their lineups, but they'd have to do exceptionally well in other areas.
``The problem for GM and Ford," he said, ``is they haven't been competitive in other segments, either."
