Concepts We Forgot – Powerful Minivans
With new trends and changing markets plus
with car development and production is very expensive, Car companies have built all
sorts of cars over the years. From unknown brands building sports cars To
sport car makers building minivans trucks and even airplanes. People complain a lot nowadays about the SUV,
But is thanks to this SUV that Porsche manages to build 911s in the same traditions they
have always done, before the SUV craze many companies were into minivans which back
in the 90s were extremely popular. And one of the names that decided to give
this market a try was Porsche. Now back in the 80s and 90s Porsche was struggling
a lot, And so under commission, they built all sorts of things, Form is known for projects like
the amazing 500E to obscure projects like 911-powered airplanes. But in the 90s Porsche decided to enter the
minivan market. this wasn’t their first project of this
type, Since back in the 80s Porsche build the B32 based on the T3 of VW.
But differently from the B32, the Carrera was
an experimental study that could go into production, Developed in the late 90s the
Carrera was based on the first gen Sharan which was just launched a couple of years prior. The exterior wasn’t that crazy, with only
the front fascia and the rear end which were designed to look more like a quote on quote
Porsche. The interior on the other side hand received
more changes Again to keep up with the Porsche tradition.
And talking about Porsche traditions, The
Carrera was powered by the same 3.6l flat 6 as the 996. In 98 Porsche introduced the Boxster which
helped Porsche also in 98 Mercedes introduced the M-class, Which changed the
market forever and also the mind of Porsche. Is unknown what happened to the Carrera, But
is believed the car was destroyed. But Porsche wasn’t the first one that gave
minivan a try In the early 90s both BMW and Lamborghini also experiment with the idea
of a family mover, First was Lamborghini with the Genesis in 1988, A V12 455hp Countach
powered 5 seaters From the beginning Genesis was built as
a showcar But Bertone went full on Most of the time these projects are just clay models
, But is amazing that a wild thing like this is fully functional.
And a similar thing can be said for the BMW
Columbus. Powered by a 5l BMW V12, the Columbus could
seat 9 including the driver who was a seat in the center F1, style, and like the Previa
of Toyota, the Columbus was a mid-engine with the engine being underneath the driver seat. While the Genesis was built for full performance,
the Columbus was built with luxury in mind. From the inside, the car looked more like a
Jet airplane than a minivan, Full leather seats, TVs, VHS system, Fax machine, and even a starlight ceiling.
The Columbus was designed by Italdesign which
back in the early 90s was working close with BMW, Designing the NazcaC2 and M12. And Italdesign specialized in cars like
Columbus, From the beginning they set their set apart from the rest of the Italian coachbuilders,
By taking a piece of the market that the rest didn’t care for. And in 2000 Italdesign would return
with a similar car like the Columbus. With the Buran of Maserati. After Fiat returned the Trident to Italy,
They were working hard to bring Maserati back to its former glory, by building new
cars like the 3200 and the new Quattroporte at the same time they were releasing several concepts. And one of these was the Buran, A very strange
vehicle, Buran could only seat 4 and had a sliding door, but at the same time didn’t have a
hatchback a boot like a sedan.
The Buran had the same engine as the 3200
which produced 370hp, which might sound like a lot, but Buran wasn’t a small car at all
since it measured 5m in length and 2m in width. Is hard to say if Maserati ever considered
putting the Buran into production, But they were trying different styles in the early
The 00s included here an SUV, Which was a head of its time. So guys thank you for watching and see you
next time.
