A compact van is a type of van characterized by a flat front design, mechanicals based on a

compact car Compact car is a vehicle size class — predominantly used in North America — that sits between subcompact cars and mid-size cars. "Small family car" is a British term and a part of the C-segment in the European car classification. However, p ...

, an engine placed either at the rear or between and behind the front seats, and similar in size to the

VW Bus Volkswagen Bus or Volkswagen Van is a type of vehicle produced by Volkswagen/Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. There have been a number of notable versions of it produced. Volkswagen Bus light commercial vehicles Six generations of Volkswagen Transp ...

. Popular in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

during the early 1960s, they were replaced by full-size vans at the end of the decade. These large vans used

body-on-frame Body-on-frame, also known as ladder frame construction, is a common motor vehicle construction method, whereby a separate body or coach is mounted on a strong and relatively rigid vehicle frame or chassis that carries the powertrain (the engin ...

construction and featured

front engine In automotive design, a front-engine, front-wheel-drive (FWD) layout, or FF layout, places both the internal combustion engine and driven roadwheels at the front of the vehicle. Usage implications Historically, this designation was used reg ...

s under a short hood.

Japanese microvans

In Japan, vans that comply with

Kei car Kei car (or , kanji: , "light automobile", ), known variously outside Japan as Japanese city car or Japanese microcar, is the Japanese vehicle category for the smallest highway-legal passenger cars with restricted dimensions and engine capacit ...

regulations are known as

microvan A microvan is a van or minivan which is within the Japanese kei car classification or similar, and is smaller than a mini MPV. In China, these vehicles are nicknamed ''mian bao che'' ("bread-loaf vehicle") because of their shape.

Examples

Dodge A100 The A100 is a range of compact vans and trucks manufactured and marketed from 1964 to 1970 by Chrysler Corporation under the Dodge marque in the United States and the Fargo marque in Canada. The A100 competed with the Ford Econoline and Chevr ...

Ford E-Series The Ford E-Series (also known as the Ford Econoline or Ford Club Wagon) is a range of full-size vans manufactured and marketed by the Ford Motor Company. Introduced for model year 1961 as the replacement for the Ford F-Series panel van, the E-Se ...

(first generation) *

Chevrolet Greenbrier The name Chevrolet Greenbrier was used by Chevrolet for two vehicles. The first vehicles were a six to nine passenger window van version of the Corvair 95 van. The Corvair 95 series also included the Loadside pickup truck and Rampside pickup truck t ...

* Chevrolet Van (first and second generations) * Lloyd LT 500

Gallery

Image:OldChevyVan.jpg, First generation of Chevrolet Van with flat windshield Image:Nissan Caravan E24 003.JPG, Japanese

Nissan Caravan The Nissan Caravan is a light commercial van designed for use as a fleet vehicle or cargo van and manufactured by Nissan since 1973. Between 1976 and 1997, a rebadged version of the Caravan sold as the Nissan Homy, which was introduced as an i ...

File:2007 Daihatsu Hijet front.jpg,

Daihatsu Hijet The is a cab over microvan and kei truck produced and sold by the Japanese automaker Daihatsu since 1960. Despite the similarities between the Hijet name and Toyota's naming scheme for its trucks and vans ( HiAce and Hilux), the name "Hijet" ...

Vans Car body styles {{Van-stub