Without going off onto too many tangents about GMC Motorhomes (interesting idea that somehow worked) and defensive driving schools (everyone should go to one of those at sometime in their lives if you ask me), the central topic of this thread is still blunting the growth of SUVs and large trucks as daily drivers. The point about CAFE not applying to them is a good one (and I vehemently disagree on CAFE bring bad law - without it Detroit would never have even attempted to improve their cars' fuel efficiency standards, and probably would have held on to old-school carbureted V8s for quite a while longer), but let's also remember what was being replaced.
Until the 1980s, the most common family haulers were full-size station wagons, GM's big G-body wagons (Chevrolet Caprice, Buick Roadmaster, Pontiac Parisienne, Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser) and the Ford LTD. Big Vans had a period of popularity in the 1970s (particularly once they got easier to drive and better-equipped) buy their size made them rather inefficient and they were harder to drive than cars, even boats like the aforementioned station wagons. And if I'm perfectly honest, besides being able to carry seven people and all of their stuff, said wagons didn't have a lot of redeeming qualities. They handled badly and stopped worse, weren't that easy to drive (Detroit hadn't figured out how tauter steering could make a driver's life easier yet) and weren't equipped well at all, plus of course who fondly remembers fake wood paneling?
The minivan was originally created by a combination of CAFE, Chrysler being unable to make a real rival to the family wagons from GM and Ford and a desire to create family haulers easier to handle than a big wagon. (And probably a little bit of Lee Iacocca and Hal Sperlich wanting to rub Henry Ford II's face in own hubris.) The Minivan scored and scored big (even if the Ford Aerostar and Chevrolet Astro/GMC Safari twins were more truck-like, they were still better than the full-size vans), but they quickly got an uncool reputation as well, and (particularly the early Chrysler minivans) some were horrendously underpowered. By the 1990s, this led to a desire for family haulers with less of the stigma - hence the Ford Explorer and Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Chevrolet S10 Blazer, and when these proved their flaws, it was on to the crossover era....
But remember the first crossover actually pre-dated the minivan - the original AMC Eagle. What if wagons had followed that development? The Eagle was effectively a four-wheel-drive medium-sized wagon, and could it have been a template for what was to come? It wouldn't have stopped the minivan of course, but what if Renault had brought the Espace to North America and paired it with the Eagle? Could that have been the template for wagons and minivans to come? Hell, could it have kept Renault operating in North America and saved AMC?
Until the 1980s, the most common family haulers were full-size station wagons, GM's big G-body wagons (Chevrolet Caprice, Buick Roadmaster, Pontiac Parisienne, Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser) and the Ford LTD. Big Vans had a period of popularity in the 1970s (particularly once they got easier to drive and better-equipped) buy their size made them rather inefficient and they were harder to drive than cars, even boats like the aforementioned station wagons. And if I'm perfectly honest, besides being able to carry seven people and all of their stuff, said wagons didn't have a lot of redeeming qualities. They handled badly and stopped worse, weren't that easy to drive (Detroit hadn't figured out how tauter steering could make a driver's life easier yet) and weren't equipped well at all, plus of course who fondly remembers fake wood paneling?
The minivan was originally created by a combination of CAFE, Chrysler being unable to make a real rival to the family wagons from GM and Ford and a desire to create family haulers easier to handle than a big wagon. (And probably a little bit of Lee Iacocca and Hal Sperlich wanting to rub Henry Ford II's face in own hubris.) The Minivan scored and scored big (even if the Ford Aerostar and Chevrolet Astro/GMC Safari twins were more truck-like, they were still better than the full-size vans), but they quickly got an uncool reputation as well, and (particularly the early Chrysler minivans) some were horrendously underpowered. By the 1990s, this led to a desire for family haulers with less of the stigma - hence the Ford Explorer and Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Chevrolet S10 Blazer, and when these proved their flaws, it was on to the crossover era....
But remember the first crossover actually pre-dated the minivan - the original AMC Eagle. What if wagons had followed that development? The Eagle was effectively a four-wheel-drive medium-sized wagon, and could it have been a template for what was to come? It wouldn't have stopped the minivan of course, but what if Renault had brought the Espace to North America and paired it with the Eagle? Could that have been the template for wagons and minivans to come? Hell, could it have kept Renault operating in North America and saved AMC?