The trend across the industry towards adventure-focused vehicles has been persistent, and it has been fruitful for automakers. Honda has its TrailSport versions, Nissan its Rock Creek, Subaru its Wilderness, GMC its AT4.
The trend hadn’t reached the minivan segment yet, until now that is. Chrysler has presented the Pacifica Grizzly Peak Concept, a minivan designed to turn off the paved road.
Unsurprisingly, the model adopts an off-road style with mudguards behind the wheel wells, fog lamps by Baja Design, a roof rack, a full-size spare tire, an awning that can be unrolled for nights outdoors and auxiliary roof-mounted lighting. The Grizzly Peak even wears a protective layer of paint on the lower body panels.
According to Chrysler, the Grizzly Peak Concept is a response to the growing number of consumers who are fans of both minivans and the great outdoors.
For off-road driving, the concept's suspension was raised by 2.8 inches at the front and 2.5 inches at the rear. The minivan is fitted with 31-inch BFGoodrich KO2 all-terrain tires mounted on 18-inch wheels.
Chrysler even created a unique logo for the concept - a bear's face pasted on the lower edge of the front doors.
Inside
On board, the Grizzly Peak concept features unique colours that blend grey and titanium accents on the dashboard, among other places. There are also orange seatbelts as well matching stitching on the seats and steering wheel. Note that this minivan does not have a third row, Chrysler having concluded that those interested in such a model would prefer to take advantage of the additional cargo volume usually occupied by the third-row seats.
Unsurprisingly, Chrysler makes no mention of a possible production version. We suspect it’s more of a styling exercise. Also consider that news from Chrysler has been scarce for quite some time now; it's not a bad thing to get people talking.
Nevertheless, if public reaction is strong, who knows, we could see the first model of its kind appear on the market.
