Cain's Segments July 2014: Minivans
The Toyota Sienna was America’s best-selling minivan during the month of July 2014, although Chrysler’s minivan duo combined to own a far greater portion of the market.
44.8% of all July minivan sales went Chrysler and Dodge’s way, up from 38.1% a year ago. The Grand Caravan/Town & Country twins rank first and second in the minivan category through the first seven months of 2014 and have jointly increased their market share to 49% from 43.6% during the same period last year.
The Mazda 5’s most direct competitor may now be the Ford Transit Connect Wagon, sales of which aren’t broken out from the overall Transit Connect’s tally. Ford has reported 23,889 total Transit Connect sales this year, a 2.4% increase. 5 sales are down 13% in 2014, though July volume shot up 68% to 1547, or 3.3% of the category.
MinivanJuly 2014July 2013% Change7 mos. 20147 mos. 2013% ChangeChrysler Town & Country11,3708,06041.1%81,24667,43920.5%Dodge Grand Caravan9,4738,58310.4%81,53968,05519.8%Honda Odyssey10,90613,261-17.8%74,20379,733-6.9%Kia Sedona7751,068-27.4%4,3513,63019.9%Mazda 51,54792267.8%8,76210,023-12.6%Nissan Quest7861,055-25.5%7,1568,004-10.6%Toyota Sienna11,66110,6089.9%73,95273,1671.1%Volkswagen Routan1155-99.4%1,1031,0218.0%—— —————Total46,519 43,712 6.4% 332,312 311,072 6.8%There are major changes planned for the structure of Chrysler/FCA’s Windsor, Ontario-built minivan lineup, yet the current results suggest a real move back to the status quo. Traditionally, when consumers thought, “Minivan?”, they also thought, “Grand Caravan.” This trend has only been emphasized by the disappearance of so many competitors. (Chrysler/Dodge combined for just 35% market share in the category a decade ago.)
Of the 1,187,790 new vehicles sold by the five Chrysler Group brands so far this year, 13.7% have been minivans. America’s third and fourth-best-selling minivans, on the other hand, generate just 8.5% and 5.4% of company-wide volume, respectively.
These are important products for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in North America, and the boldness with which the company is planning to completely alter a playing field they so thoroughly dominate lacks the caution one might see from the automakers which sell the third and fourth-best-selling minivans.
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With 4 kids, I have a definite need for a minivan. 3 row crossovers do not have the interior space needed and full sized suv's don't get nearly the same mileage. I tried a Mazda 5 for a few years, it was a nice car, got great mileage around town and handled nicely, but there is just zero cargo space. Traded it for a 2013 T&C and it's been night and day. The T&C nearly equals the Mazda 5 highway fuel economy, which is amazing for such a large vehicle. It also handles very well, so well, that I don't miss that aspect of the Mazda 5 one bit. The T&C is way more luxurious too. The Toyota and Honda interiors feel cheap by comparison, and the price tag leaves you feeling dizzy and nauseous. This is my first Chrysler product, and if all goes well, it won't be the last.
My wife just totaled our 2011 Routan. Like every vehicle, it had a few quirks, but we could drive it the 13 hours to Boston in one day, with no problems. We have two kids, and are considering downgrading to a used Mazda5, and banking the difference. My wife is terrible at parking a huge minivan in the garage (as my trash cans show, as well as hitting the garage with the passenger mirror), and our needs have changed - my Mother in law moved here, and this was our last trip to Boston, so the only extended road trips would be once a year to the beach. Currently she is using my old "back-up" car - a 2002 Grand Marquis, as the family truckster. I'd be content to just use it, but she wants something newer than 13 model years old to be our main car.