Word: minivan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Sure, there are Betty people and there are Veronica people. Letterman people and Leno people. PC people and Mac people. Even Bush people and Gore people, as hard as it may be sometimes to figure out the difference. But SUV people and minivan people? That's one distinction that has the entire auto industry scratching its collective head, or more correctly, paying legions of "experts" to ponder the question. Because much of the demographic information of the typical buyer is the same for each vehicle type - fortysomething, married, with kids - marketers of both vehicles have been forced to seek deeper...
...various manufacturers have found that while buyers of both vehicle types are drawn primarily from the same demographic, their feelings about being part of that demographic couldn't be more different. Aggregating their findings, we notice that SUV drivers are not exactly aging gracefully. They're less comfortable than minivan drivers with being married, they like driving fast, and they want their cars to bulge with muscle, bristle with aggression and make them feel sexy - a ride in which they could still imagine taking a date. And when Lincoln promotes its Navigator as an "Urban Assault Luxury Vehicle...
...contrast, the studies found, minivan drivers tend to be God-fearing community-oriented folk, who like the interior of their vehicle to remind them of being in the womb. They're resigned to being parents rather than sexual predators, and are more likely to be at a religious service or doing volunteer work when their SUV counterparts are dining at fine restaurants, cruising nightclubs or working...
...course, if you're undecided about whether to buy an SUV or a minivan - and aren't thinking about such factors as the impact of SUVs on America's burgeoning output of carbon gases - the auto industry may, on the basis of their findings, be able to design a personality test to help you make up your mind. And TIME.com wants to help. We suggest it include the following questions...
HYBRID'S HYBRID Chrysler led the design revolution in the 1990s with streamlined, low-slung road rockets that all but did away with the notion of a hood. For 2025, Bryan Nesbitt, designer of today's PT Cruiser, above, envisions a mix of minivan, sport utility and pickup truck...