By Jim Meachen and Ted Biederman

We still like the minivan for hauling passengers and cargo. It’s well suited for that kind of work.

But the image of the once-popular people mover has fallen on hard times. So hard that two of the world’s biggest manufacturers — Ford and General Motors — are abandoning the segment.

But vehicles that can move several family members and their things are still as necessary today as they were nearly 25 years ago when the minivan was introduced.

By Jim Meachen and Ted Biederman

It seems over the past 12-to-18 months that every time we jump into an all-new General Motors vehicle for the first time we sit in wonderment after just a few miles behind the wheel.

Mostly we wonder, what could have been?

Where would GM be today had it started to turn its giant ship around two or three years sooner?