Chrysler minivan redesign gives greater sex appeal to 'man van'

Chrysler wants to attract more men to its minivans as women eschew the segment's unsexy image in favour of sport-utility vehicles.

Chrysler's Dodge Grand Caravan R/T, which the company refers to internally as the "man van" because of styling and features geared to appeal to men, will be on display this week at the Chicago motor show. Chrysler hasn't announced its price.

"It's an experiment," Ralph Gilles, Chrysler's head designer, said. "Is it possible to make the minivan appeal to a guy who needs the minivan but who used to have the sports car?"

Chrysler is refreshing its entire minivan line with upgraded interiors and a new engine.

The man van has a black interior with red accent stitching, a performance-tuned suspension and a sound system with nine speakers and a 506-watt amplifier.

Honda and Toyota both released redesigned versions of their minivans last year and are working to broaden their appeal as US sales in the segment slid to 460,154 last year from 1.37 million in 2000, according to researcher Autodata.

" The minivan market is basically flat," said Art Spinella, who studies new vehicle buyers as president of CNW Marketing Research. "It's pretty much reached its saturation point."

A recent US commercial for Honda's Odyssey shows a man leaving a grocery store at night to find his minivan encircled in flames and temporarily transforming into a black panther as Judas Priest's The Hellion plays. Inside the van, giant speakers blare and television screens show a rock concert and a fire-breathing monster.

With the 2011 Odyssey, Honda is addressing customers' qualms with minivans by giving the exterior more contemporary styling and providing a sportier ride and handling, said Tom Peyton, Honda's US senior manager for national advertising.

The companies are trying to shed minivans' "mommy-mobile" image and broaden its appeal as customers are attracted to car-based sport-utility vehicles often referred to as crossovers, said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with IHS Automotive.

The minivan still is seen as a "vehicle for women and as soon as you don't need it anymore you get rid of it," Lindland said.

Sales of SUVs such as General Motors' Chevrolet Traverse, Ford's Explorer and Toyota's Highlander climbed 19 per cent to about 3.51 million, according to Autodata.

Minivan sales rose 11 per cent last year. Chrysler's Town & Country was the volume leader last year, with deliveries rising 33 per cent to 112,275, topping the Honda Odyssey's 8 per cent gain to 108,182. The Dodge version of the minivan rose 14 per cent to 103,323, according to Autodata.

Honda's Odyssey in 2008 dethroned Chrysler's Dodge as the top-selling minivan brand.

Shawn Beauchamp recently bought a new Toyota Sienna minivan after looking at SUVs. The Sienna's functionality and gas mileage won out for the family with three children. He even likes the way it looks.

"It's lowered, it's got rims," said Beauchamp, 40, who lives in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. "It is very attractive to a man. It's a sporty-looking minivan."

Still, his wife will be driving the van because he doesn't want to give up his Ram truck, he said.

"I need space so I can throw topsoil or whatever in the back of my pickup," he said.

Dodge, known for aggressive, male-oriented marketing, may be the perfect brand to break through to men, Gilles said.

Before Gilles, 41, took charge of Chrysler's design and its Dodge brand, he spent his free time souping up his minivan and racing it on weekends.

That inspired Klaus Busse, Chrysler's head of interior design, to add larger wheels and a racing stripe to his minivan in 2008.

It changed the driving experience for him and motivated him to make the minivan cool, he said.

"It was amazing how many thumbs up I got," he said.

- BLOOMBERG