When families are prompted to gather around, they're on the road involved in an epic drive to their destination. Or, they're sitting down for a story or two. Stories that need to be retold, even when loved ones are no longer around due to the pall of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
We must remind ourselves that a pickup truck was originally intended to be put to work. That is regardless of its size and whether it is built on a frame or in a unibody. For example, midsize pickup trucks were originally seen as the perfect size to do the job in more concentrated settings where parking spaces were at a premium.
I first reported that HAAH was looking for a production facility to build vehicles under the T.Go and Vantas brands from Chinese automaker Chery. They would come from its Tiggo and Exeed lineup with mostly North American components by the middle of this decade.
Those of us who are not working for an automaker or supplier to the industry think we know better than any of these people. We think we know how to improve upon a vehicle. The way it looks, operates, how some functions should work, how it should perform, and so forth.
The subject was easy: The 2022 Kia Carnival. The newest MPV looked like a great subject too shoot, with its bold new looks and Kia's marketing push to not call it a minivan. We showed that there was definitely some design and functional alignment with its larger SUV models.
The vehicles I want to go over were mentioned in passing on some articles – or, not at all. These represent vehicles that I drove for a very short stint at some event or another. Yet, they yield some headline because of their significance. Or, because you asked me privately whether I have driven it or not.
However, there is one issue that came out of the COVID-19 pandemic is putting a huge hurt on traveler’s wallets. Because of the immediate impact the shutdowns had on the travel business, a lot of financial decisions had to be made. While airlines parked planes all over the world, rental car companies found that they could not afford to keep up current fleet levels when business dropped.
Perhaps this is a good time to even discuss this vehicle. You have heard that inventories are low on new vehicles around the world. The microchip/semiconductor shortage has slowed down and shuttered new vehicle production throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the most popular vehicles that consumers want are simply not there to fulfill a huge demand for them.
There is a lot to unpack here. However, Stellantis made this a bit easier for me to navigate their strategy through the slogans that goes with each brand. The slogan is the messenger for what exactly they plan for each brand. Some of them are too tasty to read. Others fit what they are doing already or plan to do in the future.
When you first announced that your fourth generation Carnival was coming to our market, you were not going to call it a "minivan." Instead, you called it an MPV. I get that in most of the markets the Carnival is sold that it is the designation for the vehicle. But…I’m confused.