Surprise: Chrysler Just Revealed Its New Pacifica Minivan

A New Face, But Not Much Else

The only Chrysler currently on sale hit the market for model year 2017. Chrysler hasn't changed the Pacifica much since then, aside from a facelift that gave it a new nose in 2021. At the same time, it kept building the pre-facelift model and called it the Voyager instead to capture your retro nostalgia and budged cheapness. Yes, the Voyager is still on sale, but calling them two models is a stretch.

Since the Pacifica is 10 years old, a brand-new one is due, right? Not exactly. We can tell from the photos, as well as some spy photos of the van we've captured, that this is just another new nose. Take a close look, and everything from the A-Pillars rearward is identical. Of course, it's possible there could be substantial changes under the skin, perhaps enough to call it a next-generation vehicle. After all, this platform as been on sale for 10 years now. But we'll have to cross that bridge later when more details are announced.

For now, Chrysler must have taken note of the latest version of Kia's Carnival van and how its sales have been growing. Because the new Pacifica gets a nearly identical face. It has similar vertical headlights that round the corner back toward the grille, and loads of mesh underneath. It's not an exact copy. But it looks more like the Carnival than anything Chrysler or one of its fellow Stellantis brands has built in recent memory. That includes concept models.

One thing notably absent from Chrysler's trio of photos is a charger plug door. The Pacifica PHEV was a market-leader for minivan electrification and now most of its competitors offer a hybrid. But Stellantis killed its PHEVs recently, and it looks like the 2027 Pacifica won't reverse that decision. At least it means everyone will be able to get the middle-row seats that fold into the floor, a feature the PHEV's battery precluded.

Minivans Are, Like, So Hot Right Now 

Minivans seem to be on a hot streak right now, which could make this new Pacifica a make-or-break machine for Chrysler. Last year, the Pacifica outsold the entire Dodge brand by a massive amount. The newer Kia saw sales climb 45% last year, Honda was up 11% with the aging Odyssey, and Toyota was up 36%. This year is starting the same way.

Chrysler was still the minivan leader, even without adding the Pacifica and Voyager together, but things got close. Especially near the end of the year. All the more push for something big from this facelift.

The brand has been a leader in the minivan segment since it created it in 1984. Since then, it has managed to consistently drive innovation in the segment, and we aren't just using that as a buzzword. A luxury model, seats that fold into the floor, driver and side airbags, a driver-side sliding door in the US, these are all minivan firsts from Chrysler. And the list keeps going.

Since this obviously isn't a full-on product debut, expect more from Chrysler about this van soon. We'll let you know more as soon as it's all official. And yes, we're still holding out hope that Chrysler adds some ruggedness with the lifted Grizzly Peak concept it revealed last year.