All Wheel Drive used to be a common selling point for minivans. However, in 2005, Dodge quit including it on their minivans. Since they were the minivan leader, most other manufacturers also stopped selling an AWD option, leaving the Toyota Sienna as the only AWD minivan on the market.
Now, Dodge has announced that in 2014 they plan to return with an All Wheel Drive minivan to compete with Toyota.
Dodge has long been a front-runner in the minivan market, and is continually the leader in minivan sales, prompting most other manufacturers to scramble in their attempt to keep up with Dodge’s progress.
In fact, companies such as Ford and Chevy have changed their minivan designs to better emulate Dodge’s style, since their vans have always sold so well.
While Dodge continues to be one of the most popular minivans on the market, they are under increasing pressure from middle-class families who demand the best. By offering an All Wheel Drive Minivan, they can better compete with Toyota’s Sienna, which has been the only All Wheel Drive minivan on the market for many years.
One of Dodge’s biggest challenges, however, will be winning the hearts of reviewers. Although it already offers many of the same safety features as the Honda Odyssey, but at a lower price. And yet, the Dodge caravan continues to receive lower ratings by many of the Consumer Reviewing parties.
By also offering All Wheel Drive options on their minivans, Dodge can be better positioned to capture more of the consumer conscious market that is already prepared a little more for the features Honda or Toyota product.
There has not been a release on price estimates for the 2014 Dodge Caravan. But, if they keep the cost below the $30,000 range of the Honda Odyssey, they should stand to be a stiff competitor.
One other major benefit of The redesigned Dodge Caravan is that it will use the new Pentastar engine. In addition to being a highly-efficient engine, it will also support the use of E85 and E87 fuels for even greater savings.
We still don’t know what changes Dodge is planning to the interior. In the past, minivans have traditionally lost some storage space to make room for the added AWD drive train underneath. We can only hope that the engineers are working to overcome that setback and provide the vehicle with the best of both worlds.
There is also some talk of releasing a narrower version of the minivan overseas to boost their European market share.
If nothing else, this announcement will hopefully quell rumors about the Dodge discontinuing its minivan product line.
I have been looking to buy a minivan and have put together a list of awd minivansto help make it easier. Also published at Dodge Introduces An AWD Dodge Caravan for 2014.