[Ming]

Death of the minivan in its current form? Yes. Just like the truck-framed Astro/Safari type of "minivans" died out, I expect the long, heavy land yacht type of minivans to be replaced by vehicles such as the Mazda5 and KIA Rondo --- that is, if those types of mini-minivans are offered and advertised by the bigger manufacturers so that Americans know they have the choice to go one size smaller and keep their sliding doors. Or at least we'll see a stronger split between Mid-i-vans and Mini-vans that actually are Mini.

The minivans of today like the Honda Odyssey are way more than a mom with a single kid really need ("We had a baby, now we need a minivan with dual sliding automatic doors and 4 LCD screen headrests!") and gas prices and a weak economy should wake them up to that -- if they don't just downsize straight into a sedan where they probably should have stayed in the first place.