With China recently altering its one-child policy, the affects will seemingly mean a growth in population over the next twenty years; which could have a tremendous impact on minivan sales for the country moving forward.
MSN.com is reporting that three-row minivan sales, such as the Buick GL8 and Volkswagen Touran, are growing at lightening speeds within the auto market in China, despite the fact that they only make up approximately 10 percent of the country’s current new car sales. As the one-child policy is no longer in effect, cars that feature more seats are gaining popularity throughout certain households in China that are finding that the two cars they own are simply too extravagant, and too much money.
Which is great news for those automakers who have minivan models. MSN reports that currently Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, and Dodge dominate the minivan sector, as their rival manufacturers have given up even trying to compete with their minivan models. Thus, this has created stagnation in the American minivan market, which is almost about 50 percent to what these auto manufacturers saw 15 years ago.
Meanwhile in Europe, minivans are quite smaller than their U.S. counterparts, still the minivan market in this area of the globe is in jeopardy as it relates to crossover models of various sizes. Approximately 20 years ago, Renault made the Scénic compact minivan popular, however nowadays the model’s sales are under threat from compact Kadjar and Captur crossover models.
When it comes to the States, minivans have seen a revival as of late, with the stylistic 2015 Kia Sedona, and the soon-to-be released 2016 Chrysler Town & Country, which promises incredible and numerous innovations. Actually, it seems recently that auto makers in general have a greater focus on style when it comes to strategically marketing their minivans, over technology, the ability to fit more family members in, and overall practicality.
While it is an exciting revelation that China’s one-child policy has been abolished; the true ‘trickle down’ affects of this change, as it relates to minivans, will be truly felt as the years go by.
