Sometimes, automakers aren’t exactly hip with the times. They know consumers want a certain type of vehicle and then totally turn it into something unexpected — something that happens especially in segments that are shrinking. General Motors did this once with minivans — and some of the last minivans the company would make in the U.S. were actually called crossovers by the company.
Welcome to Forgotten Cars, where we delve into the history of the fascinating vehicles that probably haven’t crossed your mind in ages. Join us for an automotive trip down memory lane.
The minivan market in the U.S. is no longer what it once was. The segment has gone from selling millions to just a tiny portion of the market. When once there were offerings like the Ford Windstar, Dodge Caravan, etc there are just four minivan models left now: Chrysler Pacifica/Voyager, Toyota Sienna, Honda Odyssey, and the Kia Carnival. Most other automakers who had entered the segment gave up on it long ago. GM was one of the last holdouts before throwing in the towel.
GM had a history of taking a different approach to the minivan segment, at least initially. Aside from the rather tough, truck-based Chevy Astro and GMC Safari, the early 1990s saw the company attempt to go after the king of the segment, Chrysler, with three space-age-looking models: Chevy Lumina APV, Pontiac Trans Sport, and Oldsmobile Silhouette. These things looked like nothing else on the road. They were sleek and aerodynamic. I thought they were some of the coolest things I had ever seen on the road when I was a kid. They lasted six years before GM went back to the drawing board.
The second generation of GMs vans took a less radical, more family-friendly approach to minivans. Chevy dropped the Lumina name in favor of Venture for its van, while the Olds Silhouette and Pontiac Trans Sport/Montana were new vans with old names. All were badge engineered, of course, with slight differences. But sales of the GM vans were never strong. The Chevy Venture sold 97,362 in 1998, its best year. Meanwhile, the Dodge Caravan sold nearly 294,000 the same year. So GM went back to the drawing board again in 2006 and created the main subject of today’s post, their strange crossover vans.
Someone must have saw the writing on the wall with GM’s decreasing market share and said “we need something different — again.” By this time it’s the mid-00s. Crossovers are slowly becoming more and more of a thing. Instead of just simply designing new minivans for the market, GM goes and creates what they called CSVs or Crossover Sport Vans. It was done as a way to lure over buyers who were tempted by crossovers, but still wanted the versatility a minivan offered. I didn’t know such a person existed.
There was the Chevy Uplander seen above, that replaced both the Venture and Astro.
Buick got a luxury version called Terraza, its first and only minivan (at least here in the U.S. Buick has successfully sold a Buick GL8 luxury van in China for years now.)
Pontiac got an outdoorsy version called the Montana SV6. No one knows what SV6 means.
And Saturn got a version called the Relay.
The vans attempted to throw customers off by looking like and having certain features an SUV or crossover would have. There were the big front facias, larger than what you would usually find on minivan wheels, and fake ass skid plates.
But the sides and rear were all minivan. From the sliding doors to the rear tailgate. It was all strange.
Inside, there was room but nothing to write home about. There was an old-school column shifter. The center console was very long, reaching from the height of the speedometer to the floor. There were storage bins and cubbies, of course. But if you wanted to do something like say, warm your butt with the available heated seats, it was a bit of a reach.
None of them were particularly nice to drive either. GM threw in a pushrod 3.5-liter V6 with 200 horsepower paired with front-wheel drive (all-wheel drive was optional) and ancient four-speed automatics. They were received with a resounding shoulder shrug. Car and Driver said of the Buick Terraza, “for an asking price of more than 33 large, this Terraza CXL is pricier than an Odyssey EX with Leather but offers 55 fewer ponies and less legroom in the front row than the Honda offers in the third row. Who said a “crossover sport van” is a good thing?”
Motor Trend pretty much told GM to try harder with the Relay, saying, “We really wanted GM to do a better job than this on its revised minivans, but there’s not a single class-leading feature, and some stuff is basically obsolete.” Automobile Magazine said the Uplander “doesn’t measure up against segment leaders.”
Buyers must have noticed all these failings as they didn’t show up in the droves they did for the Dodge Caravan/Chrysler Tow & Country. Collectively, the GM U Body vans didn’t even match the yearly sales of the Chrysler vans. Only 7,171 Saturn Relay’s were sold in 2006; 13,488 Pontiac Montana SV6s; 11,948 Buick Teraza’s and 58,699 Chevy Uplanders. The vans were dropped in 2009, right around the time GM went into bankruptcy.
The company has never entered the minivan segment again. Instead relying on an ever-increasing roster of crossovers. Makes you wonder though, if the company didn’t really have an interest in trying to make a good minivan, why even try at all?