If you spent as much time looking at sales data from last year as I did, you’d probably recognize something peculiar: Minivans are surging in popularity right now. Once a mainstay in suburban driveways across America, the minivan segment has, in recent decades, shrunk to a fraction of its peak, its sales siphoned off by the ever-versatile SUV and crossover segments. Now, though, minivans are making a bit of a comeback.
Minivan sales in North America are up 20% year-over-year, with the majority of the brands that sell minivans seeing double-digit percentage increases in deliveries. Suddenly, minivans are hot again. What gives?
Curious to know more about the segment-wide spike in demand, I asked every automaker that makes a minivan why they thought their minivan was succeeding. The answers I got highlight two demographics, younger families and empty-nesters, choosing vans instead of crossovers more than they did in the past. In addition to that, one automaker told me that minivans are being used more and more by “gig economy” workers who need a multipurpose vehicle to work multiple jobs.
Normal People Are Starting To Realize How Great Minivans Are
Not counting Volkswagen, which saw sales of its ID.Buzz increase from 1,162 units to 6,140 units in 2025, Kia was the biggest winner in terms of sales percentage gain in 2025. It sold 71,917 Carnivals last year, versus just 49,726 units in 2024. That’s an increase of 44.6%. The company told me the van’s SUV-like appearance and available hybrid powertrain were big reasons for the jump. The people buying Carnivals have trended younger, dropping by two years in age versus 2024. It’s also seen an increase in male buyers by 66%.
Mainly, it seems like new families are finally figuring out just how much more useful a minivan can be over a traditional crossover, at least according to Chrysler, whose Pacifica and Voyager saw a combined 5.4% increase in sales, and accounted for over a fourth of the entire segment’s sales in 2025:
We’re seeing more and more “millennials” entering the parenting phase of their lives, and they are considering minivans at a higher level than ever before.
Honda echoed that observation. The Japanese automaker, which saw a 10.5% increase in Odyssey sales last year, is seeing that millennials are more often turning to vans not only because of their versatility, but also because of their pricing:
Odyssey is also America’s #1 minivan with millennials because it offers younger families an unmatched combination of top-class interior space, family‑friendly features and value. The Odyssey’s powerful V6 engine, smooth ride quality, fun-to-drive personality and reputation for long‑term dependability also continue to make it a go‑to choice for families.
Affordability is another key factor in Odyssey’s popularity. The average transaction price for Odyssey last year was $43.3K, which is below the average new‑vehicle transaction price in the U.S. ($45,778). For families balancing budgets, that value proposition — more space, more features and lower cost than the average new vehicle — is a meaningful driver of demand.
Toyota, another goliath in the minivan space, saw a massive 35.2% incrase in sales of its Sienna, from 75,037 units in 2024 to 101,486 units last year. Like Kia, Toyota attributes the van’s success to its hybrid powertrain, but also points to its available all-wheel drive as a big selling point.
Like the automakers above, Toyota told me in its statement that Sienna buyers are mainly younger families. But, interestingly, another demographic makes up a good chunk of sales: Empty nesters. These are older parents whose kids have since moved out of the house and who, theoretically, wouldn’t need such a big vehicle to go about their daily lives.
The reasons for this, as Toyota points out, are all the same reasons that I’d own a minivan, even as a person with no kids at all. They’re just so damn useful for so many different things, without being nearly as compromised as a pickup truck or even a full-size SUV. From Toyota:
Sienna buyers are mainly younger families and empty nesters who value comfort, reliability, and flexibility. The vehicle’s spacious cabin and innovative features meet the needs of modern, diverse families, which may also include extended relatives and pets.
Toyota isn’t the only company that has acknowledged this demographic shift. Chrysler is seeing it as well, telling me that it’s seeing more Gen X- and Boomer-aged shoppers now go for minivans and use them to roadtrip and shuttle around grandkids.
Minivans > Pickup Trucks
It’s not just families and road-trippers who are increasingly turning to minivans. Drivers who use their vehicles for work are, more than before, realizing that a minivan makes for an excellent utility vehicle, at least according to Chrysler:
There is also higher consideration from “gig economy” workers, such as Amazon delivery workers, GrubHub delivery workers and even construction workers, who like that you can fit a sheet of plywood in the rear of the Pacifica with the Stow ‘N Go seats folded flat.
While it’s pretty depressing to hear that people increasingly need to work multiple “gig” jobs while using their own personal vehicles for transport purposes, the use case highlights just how flexible a minivan can be. For one vehicle to be able to haul a mountain of packages during the day, switch to food delivery at night, then shuttle seven kids to school the next morning, all while driving like a normal car and getting reasonable fuel economy, is a tall ask. But for a minivan, it’s all in a day’s work.
As for construction use, a minivan makes a lot of sense, too. The Ford Transit and Ram Promaster are angled for commercial use, but they’re more expensive and less efficient. The ancient Chevy Express is only about $1,000 more expensive than a base Voyager, but it sure as hell doesn’t have Stow ‘N Go fold-flat seats. For a truly do-it-all vehicle, you’d be hard-pressed to find something as all-encompassing as a minivan, provided you don’t do any off-roading. And the demographics from these automakers prove it.
If I can put my speculation cap on for a second, it’s also possible that the minivan is becoming popular simply because people don’t want to drive what their parents drove. It’s the same sort of theory posited by the fall of the minivan and station wagon in the first place—who wants to be seen driving around in a type of car their parents drive? The difference now is that the average parent car is currently a crossover, not a minivan. The new families buying cars now all grew up in SUVs and crossovers, which means they want something different. The fact that minivans are also more useful is certainly the main reason for this drive in sales, but the simple fact that minivans aren’t crossovers could be a bonus for some buyers.
No matter the reason, I’m glad the minivan is making a comeback. It’s the best body style for a large swath of the population, and for a while, it seems like most people forgot just how useful they could be. Now, though, it feels like a new minivan renaissance is upon us. This time, I hope it lasts forever.
Top graphic images: Toyota; Kia; Chrysler; Honda
Hopefully, the minivan’s resurgence leads to the return of the compact minivans of yore; equivalents to true minivans like the Mazda 5 and Kia Rondo or at least short wheelbase versions of existing models similar to the old Dodge Caravan Sport.
Yes, please.
My kid’s dream car would be a manual Mazda 5.
Just homologate the Toyota Sienta or Honda Freed, please!
I hope this means good things for Lucid. The Gravity might lack sliding doors but the shape is right, plus it has more cargo capacity than a Sienna and a frunk to boot.
Maybe this will lead automakers towards making vans actually attractive.
The Carnival is definitely on the right track (if you ignore wheel options, which are horrific across all of Kia’s range). I’m not surprised it’s doing well after the redesign.
Foreign market vans strike me as better overall, styling-wise. We could look to the Renault Espace, Toyota Alphard/Lexus LM, or even the Hyundai Staria for inspiration. American market vans look drab by comparison.
Looks have always been what kept me from wanting a minivan. They’re just so ugly. Kia is definitely on the right track here, although I thought it looked better before the refresh. I’d drive one of those.
I never quite understood this. If you want something that looks like an SUV, then there’s plenty of SUV options to choose from. If I’m eating veggies, I want them to look like veggies, not like those vegans who want their veggies to look like bacon or something!
You could argue the Espace looks a bit like an SUV (particularly the latest one), but I don’t think you can consider the Alphard or Staria to be SUV-like in any way. They’re boxes with sliding doors, just like any other van.
My point is that other markets have van-shaped cars on sale that are far more attractive than the options we get here in America.
So, you think van shaped cars are attractive… but vans that are van shaped are “just so ugly”?
Color me confused!
Ahhhhhhhhhhh, if only Ford still sold the Transit Connect here
I want an e-Tourneo active as an adventure mobile. It would be the perfect size for me.
Can testify to the Carnival – my not-yet-40 co-worker bought a Carnival last year; he has two kids but is also the drummer in a band so it fills all of his needs perfectly. He likes everything about it except for the name; too cheerful and reminiscent of cruises.
WOULD “Virgin Voyages” be better?
He has kids. It’s a carnival anyway…
I have mentioned the Carnival styling as I drove by a Kia dealer a few times. If you did not look for the sliding rear door track line, you would not really think it was a Minivan. This probably helps a lot with acceptance from multiple crowds. I think the under stressed Big V6, versus a Stressed Turbo 4 cylinder also suggests long term reliability is perceived to be greater there.
I have rented a few in the past, they are max space and usefulness for a seemingly decent starting price. Supposedly just under 38K per the website.
All the minivans have a V6, except the Carnival hybrid and the Sienna (which is hybrid-only). The Carnival hybrid I4 is a turbo; the Sienna is not. The electric motor provides some low end torque as well, so real-world performance is the same, plus the huge improvement in fuel economy 🙂
I do feel like Hybrid setups should have the most rugged NA motor available to make things simple and reliable. But yeah, an NA v6 in a minivan is why I feel like they are more desirable then say the new Telluride Turbo 4 setup. That vehicle is still pretty nice to look at, but the 2.5 Turbo four as the only engine choice definitely makes me want to give it a few years on the market to see how it lives up in that big thing over time.
I wouldn’t sweat a turbo-4 inherently, you should sweat because it’s a Kia and who knows what critical component or wire got skimped on this time.
Woahh, points to Toyota for building in a vacuum (wondering how it all works). I love to see an Odyssey cutting it up on the road. I’d get one before a BIG SUV for kids, but I know that’s a tough topic here with various perspectives for sure.
It uses suction to pull air through a hose, but that’s not important right now. And, don’t call me Shirley.
But where does it all go? A bag, somewhere?
The Pacifica is also available with a built in vacuum.
It’s all coming together…
“who wants to be seen driving around in a type of car their parents drive?”
BINGO!
My parents drove SAABs (and one pos Dodge Omni). I’d kill for a clean MT 900 3-door. NGL a slightly lifted Odyssey in the neighborhood looks pretty neat. I rented one recently for a road trip, it was a REVELATION for the kids. The room! The rows!
The Dodge Durango is similar these days. I drove a 392 version, just to see what it was all about and realized it is just a minivan with an SUV name. Though the Extra power would likely not work in a Pacifica in the end.
At one point in high school I had an ’81 Omni, a hand me down from a cousin, and my mom had an ’86 Horizon she bought new.
My parents weren’t Saab people, very much not…
When I worked at a nonprofit right after college, one of our elderly volunteers was all excited to show me his new Town & Country that he traded a Silverado for – reason was, he was starting to have trouble climbing up into the higher cab of the truck, and he could still fold down the rear seats, put down a sheet of plywood, and use the van for basically all the same things he had used his truck bed for
Had another volunteer in his 80s who drove a Caravan and had for years, his reason was that he regularly gave rides to his neighbors who couldn’t drive themselves anymore, sort of ran his own free shuttle service to the supermarket, church, and doctor’s offices. Which, basically covers like 96% of the places that age group goes
When our kids were little I wished we had a minivan… only for the sliding doors, no other reason
The Peugeot 1007 is getting closer to importable age so you can live the sliding door dream again.
I live in New Zealand, its been importable since it left the factory! But its an appalling horrible little French rot box, that’s too heavy and too underpowered.
At one point, I had 5 kids age 7 and under. Those power sliding doors were a killer app, game changing in all the best ways.
Maybe people are deciding to ride lower to the ground than an SUV?
Seat position is not that low in modern minivans. I would say that people are realizing that they can still seat confortable and high without the fake all-terrain looks.
I rent them when I travel for work. The Pacifica is comfortable, fast, and easy as hell for an old fuck like me to ingress and egress.
The difference is that entry is a bit lower. Getting an elderly relative or child in and out is noticeably easier with a minivan, even if the seat height seems the same.
Absolutely, that + sliding doors + rotatory child-seat have saved my back from pain.
I used to see tons of older mini vans with ladders on top. The phone guys loved mini vans too.Lots of smaller telcos and pbx companies had fleets. They always seemed popular for painters too. All the trades are looking for a smaller vehicle that isn’t $50k. For some that probably means going to a mini van as you can pick one up for $30k. They would probably do well to bring back the ram cargo at this point. The post office should be looking for something cheap soon. No metris and the fiat van is about $50k along with all the other full size vans now.
My neighbor is a painter and has an transit connect. 200k and on it’s second transmission, so probably not much longer for this world. His plan is another slightly less old transit connect. He doesn’t need a full-sized van because he doesn’t need to work inside it. He just needs room for some tools and paint, and a ladder rack on top. Working here in the city, a small smaller vehicle is a lot easier to manage as well. Said he’s used minivans over the years as well, but recently it’s been harder to get a good deal on one versus a small cargo van.
Hopefully, the Telo van will be here soon! (Read: 2030)
Minivan sliding doors are great in parking lots, where you don’t need to worry about your kid hitting the car next to you with a swinging door! Especially with gusting wind. You can also walk past it when the door is open. Good stuff, those sliding doors are!
My early-80s grandparents had a succession of Chrysler minivans since their introduction and now have a loaded 2015 Sienna. They have a Prius for around town, and the Sienna gets used for mulch and woodworking runs, to accomodate influxes of visiting grandchildren, and to haul kayaks and ebikes to rail-trails and lake cabins.
I never understood the minivan hate that many people have.
Oh you don’t want to look like a “soccer mom”? Well you STILL look like a soccer mom even with that 7 passenger CUV. You’re not fooling anyone.
Minivans are for people who just need the space and aren’t trying to fool anyone about some sort of perceived ‘toughness’ or any faux-outdoorsy lifestyle.
7 passenger CUVs are basically less practical minivans that cost more.
I’ve always wondered why so many people think that their Honda Pilot is fooling everyone.
So much this. And you arguably look more like a “soccer mom/dad” in a 3 row suv/cuv these days than you do in a minivan.
CRVs are the new Camry for shit drivers.
I traded my Kia Forte for a ten-year old Toyota Sienna. Can’t afford the newest ones, and still it has all the great features.
I think the only thing missing from the minivan segment is higher towing capacity to capture more buyers who are otherwise forced to go with an SUV.
The Ford Aerostar and Chevy Astro were derided at the time for being more on the cargo van side of the spectrum than Chrysler’s more car-like minivans, but they found niches as family haulers that could tow their weekend toys.
For sure, 4,600lb towing capacity from the V6 Aerostars was nothing to sneeze at back in the day! Knew a family that had one as they wanted a people hauler that could also tow a camper trailer from time to time.
LMAO at Honda trying to say the Odyssey has a “fun-to-drive personality”.
We had a 2011, then upgraded to a 2018. While they are extremely practical, well-built cars, fun-to-drive is not even in the ballpark. There’s just too much of a feeling of inertia for that, from accelerating to steering.
I kind of like the feeling of the whole body leaning backwards when pressing full gas. But yeah, not so great when leaning everywhere else.
The steering is high and numb but it’s a lot of fun to hear VTEC kick in on on-ramps.
Yo.
Ironically, my Sienna is faster to 60 than a 65 Mustang. And the modern radials grip better than the old bias tires. So probably could out-hoon an old car. Not that you’d want to, but nostalgia and vibes seem to win over reality. I’m reasonably certain if I were running the same course in my old 84 Camaro (which I wish I still had) versus my 2018 Sienna, the van would toast the pony car in every way except being cool.
That’s a great idea. Driving a van on a road course would probably qualify as fun.
Meh. Call me when the landyacht renaissance starts.
Depending on whether you think the Cadillac Celestiq is a true landyacht or not, it might already be on the horizon
I’m personally waiting for the resurgence of the personal luxury coupe.
That is exactly what my 25 Dodge Charger Daytona is, but electric instead of an underpowered V8. Only sad that opera windows were not an option.
No front bench, not a PLC.
The Monte Carlo and Thunderbird could be had with bucket seats.
I’m here for it. I want a car with two doors that is 25 feet long and plush as all hell inside.
Good news: Fuselage-era Mopars are still affordable. Your friendly neighborhood Craigslist hoarder can help get you into a ‘68 Imperial TODAY!
How you get it home is up to you and/or the towing company of your choice.
I’m sure some executive somewhere read this and is asking “Why aren’t we charging more for minivans?”
As an older millenial, I’m not sure how true this is. Minivans are exactly what I grew up in. The 7 passenger crossovers that replaced minivans didn’t really come around until I was in my mid 20s and I was probably 30 before they had displaced the minivan as the parental transportation of choice. I suspect most millenials spent their formative years in minivans and it’s more a testament to how damn good they are that when millenials started families they committed to becoming their parents and bought them anyway.
Agree. I think it’s GenX with the bigger aversion. When they were young/cool they saw the olds (younger boomers) driving vans to shlep their kids around, which made them seriously uncool. That’s what 30-somethings drive, not cool 18 year olds.
My friends and I grew up in vans in the 90s and borrowed them when we got our licenses in the early 2000s – nothing but fond memories from us. It’s just that fewer of us were having kids and buying houses in our 20s. Now some of us are financially able to.
My sister had a friend 15 years ago ( he would have been 18 or 19) that was relatively obsessed with mini vans he felt they were the perfect vehicle. I thought it a bit odd at the time so I asked if his parents ever had one. He said no his parents only ever drove sedans and had just gotten in to SUVs. There has to be whole generation and then some out there now with tons of people who have never even been in a minivan certainly didn’t have one as a family vehicle. I believe that’s why late gen x and elder millennials turned their back on minivans because they were raised in them and their parents still had them. A whole generation and then some of cuv and SUV raised kids could be looking at minivans very differently.
I’m a late gen xer, raised in minivans and, even better, conversation vans! I’ve always thought they were cool and never projected some “lame parents” vibe onto them. Tools for the job are cool! I guess I could also never really afford to worry about what my car says about my “image.” I don’t really remember making fun of anyone for whatever hand me down people drove being a thing. I’ve always read about this notion of not wanting to drive what your parents drive, but never really saw that in action. I was jealous when my sister got Grandma’s Buick!
I’m the same late gen x almost an elder millennial. I didn’t really grow up with mini vans or conversion vans but it seems like all my friends did. I always appreciated being driving around in a conversation van with a TV and maybe if you really lucky a Nintendo or super Nintendo. My little sister with the friend is squarely in the middle of millennial. This kid wasn’t given a minivan he chose to buy one 15 years ago that was strange. Unless maybe someone was using it for a trade or something. He wasn’t. It was still common for their kids to have been in mini vans and seeing them as something they didn’t want. You take that away and you have rebirth.
Sounds like there’s room in the market for an Acura-badged Odyssey and a Lexus-badged Sienna…
NGL I’d spring for an off-lease CPO Lexus hybrid minivan.
Minivans I’d like to see make a comeback:
Ford Aerostar (build it on the Maverick platform)
Toyota Previa (would be perfect as an EV)
Mazda5
Mitsubishi Chariot
NIssan Prairie
There was a rumor of a Transit Connect replacement that was to be built on the Mav platform. If it came in with the hybrid AWD and 4k towing it would probably have been the replacement for my Mazda5. But I think it was a longshot to begin with and the tariffs killed it completely.
The Transit Connect in Europe is now a VW Caddy with a Ford front, and it has been this way since they stopped building the one that was also sold in America. I think this makes it very unlikely that Ford would build a different Transit Connect for North America (I mean they could have used the C2 platform for the european Transit Connect too, if they wanted to).
Ford apparently showed a styling buck of a Maverick van to dealerships a couple years back, and it seems like there’s some recent reporting that it’s not totally dead:
https://fordauthority.com/2025/08/ford-maverick-based-van-still-happening-production-set-for-2028/
Between the chicken tax and Americans tending to reject overly European designs, I think it’s perfectly logical for them to do a new version out of North America specific to this market. I don’t know if the sales will support it long term, but I only need one lol.
But the other way around, I’m not sure a more american SUV-ish looking van wouldn’t sell in Europe (unless its a small van only in name). And why would they sell another manufacturers car, if they have one made by themselves, that only has to be tweaked a bit for another market? (In 2028 the current Transit Connect will be a 7 years old model, so that doesn’t seem to be completely impossible, that they will start selling a new model in NA in 2028, and a bit later in Europe too.)
Is the e-Tourneo VW based as well?
MacGyver would choose a minivan over any truck or suv. They are the Swiss army knives of getting shit done.
I’ll have you know, sir, that MacGyver did in face choose an suv over a minivan. Don’t make me summon DT from under a pile of Ebay WWII Jeep parts to tell you about Angus’ YJ…
I skipped the mini van and went straight to a Transit Passenger as my all in one van. So far I’ve used it to move a king size mattress, ski road trip, next up is a camping trip. I’ve also used it to run errands around town, it’s not much longer than my old Tundra.