DETROIT Minivans offer style with lots of space

Nissan wants to imply that its redesigned minivan is for 'sexy moms.'
LONG ISLAND NEWSDAY
Do soccer moms wear negligees?
Nissan is targeting those who do in an unusual marketing campaign that's using sex to pitch -- of all things -- that quintessential suburban family vehicle, the minivan.
Nissan is pitching its redesigned 2004 Quest to parents -- especially women -- who still are "stylish and sophisticated," it says, and, unlike the "soccer moms" of stereotype, haven't let child-rearing overshadow their individuality.
"We'll never utter the words sexy mom," says Shari Kourilsky, Nissan North America's marketing manager for the van. "But we'll imply it in our commercials."
Indeed. One print ad for the minivan shows a negligee thrown on a chair next to a window. Visible outside the window is a Quest. Says the ad, "Passion created it and passion will fill it up." Fill it up, that is, with kids.
In targeting the "wouldn't-be-caught-dead-in-a-minivan" consumer, Nissan hopes to elbow a niche in a market segment that soared when Chrysler introduced the modern front-wheel-drive minivan concept in 1984 but virtually stopped growing during the mid-'90s. It still totals more than a million vehicles a year, though.
Stereotype
Marketing experts say many consumers have been opting instead for sport utility vehicles, perceived as sportier and more expressive than minivans. Those still buying minivans, says Kourilsky, simply need more room than an SUV offers. "People are forced into the segment," she said. "There's a negative stereotype, and we want to crash through it."
The additional room is what persuaded Michael and Suzanne Doherty of Seaford, N.Y., the parents of two sons, ages 1 and 3, to recently replace their Jeep Grand Cherokee with a Honda Odyssey. Suzanne, 40, says the Jeep simply was too small inside for their needs. "SUVs are OK for one child but not for two," she said.
The Odyssey, she said, is her second-favorite vehicle after a BMW sedan she drove for a while. She said that the "soccer mom" image doesn't bother her a bit. "It's a great ride, and it makes sense," she said.
It was the same for Jim and Kelly Clark of Northport, N.Y., both 34 and the parents of toddler boys, with a third baby on the way. "I am a soccer mom," she said. "I don't want to be that, but we need the space."
Nissan is banking on swoopy styling, a trendy interior design with four skylights and what it contends is superior handling to provide enough pizazz for prospective buyers.
Built in the new Canton, Miss., plant and ranging from about $25,000 to $36,000, the new Quest is 9 inches longer than its predecessor and roughly equal in size to its competitors.
It won't be the newest on the block for long, though. Ford is replacing the moderately successful Windstar with a new vehicle, the Freestar, in the fall as a 2004 model. Mercury dealers will get a version called Monterey.
Market share
Ford lost 16 points of minivan market share between 1995 and last year, as the Ford Aerostar disappeared and Mercury Villager phased out, leaving the company with 14.6 percent.
Chrysler -- now a unit of DaimlerChrysler -- still holds more than a third of the minivan market, but it's been losing market share. Redesigned versions of its Dodge Caravan and similar Chrysler Town and Country and Voyager are expected by industry analysts in 2005 or 2006.
The company won't confirm that, nor will it confirm a report last week in the trade paper Automotive News that it will change the design of its minivans' third-row seats next year so that they no longer have to be removed when more cargo room is needed but, instead, can be folded into the floor as in most competitor vehicles.
General Motors picked up about a half-point of market share between 1995 and 2002 as its widely criticized "Dustbuster" models -- so called for their resemblance to the small vacuum cleaner -- were replaced by more conventional minivans -- the Chevrolet Venture, Pontiac Montana and Oldsmobile Silhouette. GM also sells small numbers of its Chevrolet Astro and GMC Safari minivans.
Rebecca Lindland, an industry analyst in the Lexington, Mass., office of the forecasting firm Global Insight, says Nissan has set a difficult course by trying to market the Quest as anything but utilitarian.
"I think they're going to have a hard time overcoming that idea -- that any person inside a minivan is assumed to have kids," she said.