Now that General Motors and Ford have completely abandoned the minivan market for good, the American originator of the species faces only Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Kia and soon Volkswagen as manufacturers that also offer competitive choices. Perhaps you'd think that Chrysler would be benefiting as the only domestic automaker currently playing in the segment, but it seems that sales are down this year by 13 percent for the Chrysler Town and Country while the Dodge Grand Caravan is down an alarming 35 percent. High gas prices are the obvious reason why the minivan market is seeing such a harsh downward trend, and likely the culprit behind Chrysler's impending move to idle its St. Louis South minivan plant as early as December, which would leave some 1,500 employees jobless.
Utility vehicles have been the biggest gas-price casualties, and slow sales are said to be forcing the Jefferson Avenue assembly plant in Detroit where the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Commander are assembled and the Toledo, Ohio North assembly plant which builds the Jeep Liberty and Dodge Nitro into extended shut-downs, as well.
It's not easy to describe the rapidity at which Krug's green Caravan explodes off the line and down the track. It's seriously disconcerting to watch almost two tons of toddler-hauling mediocrity running an 11.17-second quarter mile with flames shooting out the back hatch. The black and white soccer ball sticker on the liftgate only further cements the surreal feeling that this van is just not right.
The turbine is government surplus and the flames are courtesy of judicious use of fuel sprayed into the helicopter engine's exhaust. Though the pyrotechnics make for a good show, Krug says they provide no boost in acceleration. The whole thing only cost about $17,000 to build. Krug says his Vanzilla tops out at only 113 mph because he still needs to do some work on the rear axle ratio. If it were us, we'd see about getting some wider rubber on those back wheels, too.
After you've watched the video above several times, click through to the jump for even more footage of this unholy amalgam of military might and mom-approved mobility.
Chrysler has had a lot of ups and downs over the years, riding the wave of one or two hot products at a time in a fight for survival. Fads at the Pentastar have come and gone, but the Auburn Hills-based automaker has had one mainstay since 1983: the minivan. Sure the VW Microbus came first, but here in the States it was Chrysler that started the minivan craze. From the minute that first Caravan rolled off the assembly line in the Reagan-era, this family-friendly minivan has been Chrysler's most important vehicle. With Ford and GM bowing out of the minivan segment altogether in recent years, the 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan becomes even more important for Chrysler, as it has the ability to scoop up sales from its domestic competition to counteract the segment shrinking as a whole.
Chrysler has fought hard to remain innovative in the minivan segment with firsts like twin sliding doors, seats that fold into the floor, and now Swivel 'N Go, which allows the second-row seats to swivel around 180 degrees to face the third row. One look at the Grand Caravan's long spec sheet shows that Chrysler also threw every technology on hand into this minivan, but we wanted to see if things like satellite TV and twin DVD Screens translated into a better minivan. Hit the jump to read about the 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT's stay in the Autoblog Garage. We've produced a video tour of the Grand Caravan's many features, as well.
