Chrysler CEO touts minivan ‘resurgence’ but stays quiet on plans
Chrysler and Dodge CEO Matt McAlear wants the world to know that the minivan is not dead. Far from it, he said, at the New York International Auto Show, where he showed off the latest version of the Pacifica Pinnacle, the highest-end trim of the brand’s sole product line.
The Chrysler brand — once one of the biggest names in the auto industry — only sells a single family of minivans, which many take as a sign of the brand’s impending demise.
Chrysler, which has been promising new products for years, said it will share more plans at parent company Stellantis‘ investor day on May 21 in Auburn Hills, Michigan. McAlear didn’t elaborate further but said the brand had “a lot of things in the works” and touted its only vehicle.
“We absolutely see the minivan market growing, and we believe there’s an opportunity for Chrysler to continue its growth year over year,” McAlear said. Chrysler is the best-selling brand in the segment, he added.
Matt McAlear, chief executive officer of Chrysler and Dodge, during the 2026 New York International Auto Show (NYIAS) in New York, US, on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Minivan resurgence?
Chrysler is often credited with inventing the minivan, or at least mainstreaming it in the United States in the early 1980s. Rivals followed, but many have since abandoned it.
Since the 1990s, minivans have steadily lost ground to SUVs, which are considered sportier and more adventurous. Minivan sales were a mere 1.7% of the market in 2017, according to Edmunds. In 2025, they were up to 2.4%.
Sales numbers from Chrysler and its few competitors in this segment indicate growing interest in the adaptive and often affordable “multipurpose vehicle,” as the minivan is sometimes called. The average transaction price for a large SUV is $77,215, according to Edmunds. The average minivan price, meanwhile, is $48,269 — just above the overall industry average cost for a new vehicle of $48,402.
There is enough demand that Chrysler saw fit to unveil a new highest-end version of its minivan at the Auto Show, called the Pinnacle. The vehicle is full of features common in higher-end family vehicles, like screens on the backs of seats so passengers in a rear row can watch movies on a road trip. But there are also some perks that are tough to find outside the segment: both second and third row seats on some versions can be completely stowed in the floor, for example.
Companies like Chrysler are also trying to look beyond the “family hauler” identity the minivan has had for much of its history. Its Grizzly Peak concept has knobby tires and a roof rack, for a more rugged option and McAlear said the company was thinking about how to do more of that.
“We’re looking at it,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out if there’s a way to do it because people love it. And it is unlike anything you’ve ever seen from a minivan brand before.”
McAlear also touted the van’s storage capacity compared with similar vehicles.
“I’ve got…
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