Back in 1984, Dodge released the Caravan/Grand Caravan, the very first minivan. Literally overnight it made station wagons a thing of the past. Within the next couple of years, competing automakers launched their own minivans, but none of them could match the Caravan in sales and general popularity. Fast forward a short few years and it appears the Caravan's good times are coming to an end.

As part of Fiat-Chrysler's five-year plan, the Dodge brand will drop the Grand Caravan from its lineup entirely in 2016. As expected, the Chrysler Town & Country will remain in production and will be redesigned at that time. So why is the Grand Caravan getting the axe and not the Town & Country? The reason is the automaker pockets more money on the latter. By simply adding a few luxury features, the minivan's sticker price goes up. Another issue is that crossovers have become very popular, thus hurting overall minivan sales. By killing off the Grand Caravan, Dodge is also able to focus more on performance models, leaving the mainstream stuff to Chrysler.