While new models are celebrated by car manufacturers, their production often ends without a murmur. This is what happened last month with the VW Sahran and the identical Seat Alhambra. And for the spring, Ford has announced the end of the Galaxy and S-Max. As a result, a vehicle category is dying out in Europe, the people carrier. You can also call her Van. Only the Renault Espace would remain. But the former European pioneer – developed by Matra – has long since become a rolling premium lounge without the original conceptual claim.
After all, the second-generation Sharan stayed on the market for twelve years with a product refresh in 2015. Including the first model introduced in 1995, the series sold around 1.04 million units. Germany accounted for 435,000 units. With the Sharan came the end of the Alhambra. Seat Germany expects a sales volume of around 3,500 units by the end of this year.
The Ford Galaxy came last year to 4700 pieces – Europe-wide! In 25 years and over three model generations, it has sold a total of over 820,000 units. And the Ford S-Max, which was only introduced in 2006, sold around 570,000 units in two model generations. In 2021, however, there were only around 7,400 buyers in Europe. In the eyes of its fans, the Sportvan was an even better choice than the Galaxy, since it was ultimately just as flexible, but didn’t carry as much height above the seats, which was mostly useless anyway. Only Mitsubishi had a similar vehicle to offer with the (today almost forgotten) Grandis. Even more likely to have fallen into oblivion is that Honda once indulged in the people carrier – Shuttle was the name of the Japan van. With the Chrysler Voyager and the later Lancia of the same name, fans of American car taste also got their van money’s worth.
Sharan, Alhambra and S-Max only managed around 2500 new registrations in Germany in the first nine months of this year, the Galaxy did not even manage half. The practical family carriages, which can handle Ikea purchases more than any other car without complaint, have been pushed out, above all by the SUV hype. The sports utility vehicles also offer a higher seating position and sometimes also seven seats. Nevertheless, they cannot match the flexibility and space of a people carrier. As the author’s then eight-year-old son aptly stated when he encountered the six-seater Lancia Voyager: “Dad, you can go for a walk in there.”
So let’s bury a vehicle category whose future has not failed in the face of reason. They are more of a victim of the manufacturers’ own marketing, which has increasingly and skillfully driven buyers towards the SUV. The Federal Motor Transport Authority now classifies almost every third(!) new car as such.
Wait, isn’t there still…? Oh no, the research shows: The Rodius is no longer on offer at Ssangyong either. Without a word, like everyone else, he also slipped away unnoticed at some point.
In the end, the sales figures decide – and not reason. (Jens Riedel/cen)