Some may disagree, but Minivans/MPVs can be cool. Just not most of the minivans offered in the US. Because Japan has way cooler minivans, AME, to say the least, pretty much owns this market segment with their Shallen series. Let me add that it’s a huge segment. I would love to see cooler MPVs roaming around in the US. Seriously, doesn’t this Alphard on Schrifts (the old Japanese naming for the CX) look cleaner than the average SUV on blinged out dubs? Someone please grey market one here. Alphards are fresh. Check out interior pics of the Royal Lounge Hybrid edition Alphard that Toyota Modellista designed HERE. Nice.
A collaboration of Practicality and Style. On a sidenote, this is the first year within the past 7 years that AME has decided not to create a new Shallen design instead helping to round out the AME line with the new TM-02, a much needed sports wheel. (And although there has been some talk recently about it being the new RPF1 on steroids, you really can’t compare the two. The RPF1 is another timeless wheel, but the technology of the TM02 exceeds it by 4 or 5 generations. More on this later.) In anycase, the throwing around of ideas for the next Shallen design should begin soon in order for a release sometime in 2009.
Minivans done right stateside? Until more cool looking minivans are released, saying that a Super Ultra Niche might exist could be considered a far-fetched understatement. I may have just lost half of our audience..