Passenger vans have been a thing since the dawn of the automobile. What separates vehicles like the VW Type 2, the Chevy Astro, and the Ford Econoline from the

Passenger vans have been a thing since the dawn of the automobile. What separates vehicles like the VW Type 2, the Chevy Astro, and the Ford Econoline from the minivan is the minivan's complete disregard for use as a van. It was based on the platform of a sedan so it drove like a (fat) sedan rather than like a work truck. It also had actual attention paid toward things like NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) and passenger ergonomics. It's easy to look at the form factor and say "that's been done before" but that ignores hundreds of differing design principles that make for something entirely different on the whole.