Minivan

A minivan is a vehicle designed primarily for passengers, with two or three rows of seating accessed via large (often sliding) doors.

Offering car-like handling and fuel economy, minivans typically have unibody construction, front-wheel or all-wheel drive, greater height than sedan or station wagon counterparts, and have re-configurable interiors with flexible or removable seating — to prioritize either passenger or cargo volume.

In international markets, the minivan is classified as multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) or people carrier.

In North America, the term minivan derives from the size comparison to traditional full-size vans (like the Ford E-Series, Dodge Ram Van, and the Chevrolet Van). Full-size vans derived their underpinnings upon full-size pickup trucks, while the first generation of minivans sold in North America derived from either compact pickup trucks or passenger cars (or both).

Predecessors include the 1936 Stout Scarab, which featured a removable table and second row seats that turn 180 degrees to face the rear. The DKW Schnellaster, manufactured from 1949 to 1962 was one of the first vehicles to feature the characteristics of modern minivans. In 1950, the Volkswagen Type 2 adapted a bus-shaped body to the compact Volkswagen Beetle. When Volkswagen introduced a sliding side door on their van in 1968, it then had all the features that would later come to define a minivan: compact length, three rows of forward-facing seats, station wagon-style top-hinged tailgate/liftgate, sliding side door, passenger car base. Fiat built a similar vehicle, the 1956 Multipla based on the Fiat 600 with the same "cab over" engine and door layout.

In 1972, designers at Ford Motor Company developed the Ford Carousel prototype as a variant of the upcoming redesign of the 1975 Ford E-Series. To better fit a van into a typical 7-foot (213 cm) tall American garage door opening, the Carousel was designed with a lower (6-feet tall) roofline and trim similar to a station wagon and a personal luxury car; rather than a cargo carrier, Carousel was intended a family vehicle. The vehicle was never produced, due to the mid-1970s fuel crisis and company financial difficulties. Nearly a decade later, the concept was revisited by designers and produced in somewhat different form as the Ford Aerostar.

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Wikipedia