What If Chevrolet Brought Back the Astro Minivan as an AWD Hybrid?

That’s right, how about a new Chevrolet Astro Minivan? GM has been out of the van market for many years and yet, Honda and Toyota found a profitable way to keep theirs around. Even the good old Chrysler Pacifica is making the news these days, with just a redesigned front end and a new badge. 

The original Chevrolet Astro was produced from 1985 to 2005. With a major facelift in 1995. It was of course GM’s answer to Chrysler’s super popular first-generation Minivan. However, the Astro was based on a RWD platform with AWD as an option. The Astro was also sold as a GMC minivan called the Safari.

These were never as popular as the Chrysler minivans but with RWD and AWD options they did offer something quite different. They ended up getting quite a following after their production run. They also had a classic square look that still looks fine today, after all these years.

As expected, they were quite popular at first, with over 125,000 units sold in 1996. However, that came down to around 19,000 in 2005. That same year, Chrysler was still selling over 180,000 units of the Town & Country minivan. 

 As we know, Minivans aren’t as popular as they used to be. But it’s good to see VW trying hard with the new ID. Buzz. Although they really messed up with pricing and range. At least it’s coming back to the US market for the 2027 model year. And even Toyota is working on the new Previa. Which could also offer some sort of a retro design. Gm could choose to offer a new Astro van as an EV or not. They keep telling us that hybrid and PHEVs “are coming”. Wouldn’t a new Astro be the perfect vehicle for a new much more efficient AWD van?

I am pretty sure a new road trip/camper-friendly American minivan could find an audience in North America.