“I personally believe that you can do really cool vans,” said Habib, noting the Carnival as an example of a traditional van that still looks pretty “cool” and “desirable.” So are vans the way forward after SUVs? Not necessarily.
“Technological progress needs to be visible,” said Habib. “If the SUV doesn’t manage to show that, it’s not going to survive. If we manage to create vehicles that are SUVs that do feel like they progress, I think they’re going to survive.”
Basically, it sounds like designers are not quite sure what future buyers will want exactly. Still, there is reemerging interest in vehicles that are not unnecessarily lifted, and new design freedoms are making it possible to package space, performance, range, and comfort inside smaller footprints. Unless SUVs show notable advantages, lower-roofed cars could replace them.
Our grandparents drove station wagons, our parents drove MPVs, and we drive SUVs and crossovers; will we go full circle? We think it would be a smart call.