Photo: jlord8/Instagram
Crossovers and SUVs are widely regarded as the vehicles that overshadowed the station wagon, but it's minivans that first eclipsed car-based haulers. It happened in the 1990s, a few years after Renault and Chrysler introduced their game-changing minivans.
While the Renault Espace never made it on US soil (despite an initial attempt by AMC to import it), the Dodge Caravan became an instant hit as soon as it arrived in dealerships in late 1983. A somewhat new concept at the time, the Caravan featured a low floor and car-like NVH levels. It was also small enough to fit in a standard-height garage and provided better fuel economy than a full-size van.
The success of the Dodge Caravan and its Plymouth Voyager counterpart prompted Chrysler to introduce its own version of the minivan in 1989. Highly popular in the 1990s and 2000s, usually moving more than 200,000 units per year, the Dodge version soldiered on until 2020, when the company abandoned the segment altogether.
The Plymouth Voyager was discontinued in 2000 when Chrysler dropped the historic brand. The Chrysler Town & Country went into the history books in 2016, but unlike its sibling, it got a similar replacement in the Pacifica. Chrysler also revived the Voyager nameplate as an entry-level version and the Grand Caravan badge for the Canadian market.
Dodge isn't planning on bringing the Caravan back or offering another minivan under Stellantis, but that didn't stop rendering whizz "jlord8" from putting together a more modern version of the people hauler. And to make things even more interesting, he went with a high-performance version that wasn't even on the company's drawing board. Yup, it's yet another Hellcat model that we'll never get.
As you might have already guessed, this rendering is based on the Chrysler Pacifica. And far from surprising, the artist turned to Dodge's current lineup to "borrow" a familiar face for the revived minivan. Specifically, he chose the Durango SRT Hellcat as a donor, "gluing" the SUV's front fascia and aggressive bumper beneath Pacifica's short and sloping hood. The result is downright cool and makes me miss the iconic minivan even more.
Sure, a Hellcat-powered Grand Caravan would be a bit too much for the average soccer mom, but Dodge would have plenty of options for a new minivan, including the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 and the hybrid drivetrain currently available in the Chrysler Pacifica. And perhaps the 392 HEMI V8 would be more than enough for a high-performance version at 485 horsepower.
Even so, Dodge would still sell a few good thousand Grand Caravan Hellcats. And dealers would rush to apply huge markups as they did on the Challenger SRT Demon 170. But the Dodge Grand Caravan is not coming back, so you might as well enjoy the rendering below because that's the most you'll get unless you build your own Hellcat version.
The success of the Dodge Caravan and its Plymouth Voyager counterpart prompted Chrysler to introduce its own version of the minivan in 1989. Highly popular in the 1990s and 2000s, usually moving more than 200,000 units per year, the Dodge version soldiered on until 2020, when the company abandoned the segment altogether.
The Plymouth Voyager was discontinued in 2000 when Chrysler dropped the historic brand. The Chrysler Town & Country went into the history books in 2016, but unlike its sibling, it got a similar replacement in the Pacifica. Chrysler also revived the Voyager nameplate as an entry-level version and the Grand Caravan badge for the Canadian market.
Dodge isn't planning on bringing the Caravan back or offering another minivan under Stellantis, but that didn't stop rendering whizz "jlord8" from putting together a more modern version of the people hauler. And to make things even more interesting, he went with a high-performance version that wasn't even on the company's drawing board. Yup, it's yet another Hellcat model that we'll never get.
As you might have already guessed, this rendering is based on the Chrysler Pacifica. And far from surprising, the artist turned to Dodge's current lineup to "borrow" a familiar face for the revived minivan. Specifically, he chose the Durango SRT Hellcat as a donor, "gluing" the SUV's front fascia and aggressive bumper beneath Pacifica's short and sloping hood. The result is downright cool and makes me miss the iconic minivan even more.
Sure, a Hellcat-powered Grand Caravan would be a bit too much for the average soccer mom, but Dodge would have plenty of options for a new minivan, including the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 and the hybrid drivetrain currently available in the Chrysler Pacifica. And perhaps the 392 HEMI V8 would be more than enough for a high-performance version at 485 horsepower.
Even so, Dodge would still sell a few good thousand Grand Caravan Hellcats. And dealers would rush to apply huge markups as they did on the Challenger SRT Demon 170. But the Dodge Grand Caravan is not coming back, so you might as well enjoy the rendering below because that's the most you'll get unless you build your own Hellcat version.
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