In Europe, minivans (also called MPVs) have all but disappeared to give way to SUVs that consumers love. Remember, in the 90s and 2000s: every manufacturer had one in their range, and in almost all segments! Renault was one of the first to apply this principle in all respects: Espace, Scénic, Twingo, Modus and even Avantime and VelSatis which adopted this principle of a large one-volume model. SUVs today are small or large, coupes or convertibles, sporty or elegant: just as minivans were in their day. A great replacement… But there is a country where minivans are still popularwhere consumers still love these large models with the false appearance of utility, residential, spacious and modular: China!

The category is still popular in Asia

In general, Southeast Asia has never abandoned this category. Models unknown to us have been sold for decades in China, Japan, Indonesia or Thailand: Toyota Alphard and Noah, Nissan Elgrand and Serena, Honda Odyssey and Stepwagon… Do these names mean nothing to you? That’s fine, unless you visit the UK and come across a few imported from Japan, it’s very rare to see them on our European roads.

As for China, it has traditionally always loved minivans, but lacked a powerful carmaker to shake up the market. With the advent of electricity, everything changed! The Chinese manufacturers have increased the number of models and are taking advantage of the current European enthusiasm for the technology to introduce these large “battery powered” models that have little or no competition here, except for the Hyundai Staria and Volkswagen. ID Buzz and Lexus LM.

Return to Europe thanks to Chinese manufacturers

Vice versa, In recent months, Chinese manufacturers have seen a creative surge : for example, at the last Brussels Motor Show we could admire Maxus Myth 9 and its nine locations, which will soon be sold here. For the first time, Volvo (now flying the Chinese flag) has just unveiled its EM90also electric and based on its cousin Zeekr 009. There were also Howl dream, Denza D9 and GAC Trumpchi E9.. The list goes on!

The latter comes to us from Xpeng: X9 (too bad for the next BMW model) is a 7-seater minivan with over 500 horsepower (electric, of course) coming in 2024. So, should we be afraid? a strong return of this traditional category, will Chinese manufacturers burn wings? We will wait and see. In any case, if they succeed in making their bid, the European producers should start in earnest…

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