COLLAPSE for the 'classic' MPV market has led to the rise of the 'stealth people carrier', according to data technology experts Vehicle Data Global (VDG).
This is because there is still a hard core of buyers who care less about aesthetic image than having maximum cabin and boot space.
Analysis of registrations and classification data reveals that the ubiquitous MPV of the mid-2000s suffered a 98% wipeout since 2014 as the fashionable SUV body style came to dominate the market.
But VDG says that behind the scenes, after manufacturers finally pulled the plug on models like the Sharan and Grand C4 Picasso, in 2022, followed by the Galaxy, S-Max and Touran, the people carrier is enjoying a resurgence in disguise, often using van-based designs.
The trend shows that although the SUV body style tempted many motorists away from the unglamorous people carrier image, the cost in interior space was too much for a growing minority of drivers who are now prioritising practical utility again.
Registrations of Ford's van-derived Tourneo Custom variant alone, reached 4,893 in 2025, up from just 336 12 years earlier. Peugeot's Rifter and Vauxhall's Combo Life - both built on commercial van platforms - are running at similar levels, each surpassing 2,000 sales a year. VDG says that such vehicles are effectively MPVs without the official label.
Newer arrivals have been continuing the trend, such as Dacia's budget Jogger, which hit 10,224 registrations by 2024. Even though it slipped back to 5,778 in 2025 the Jogger still outsold all of the remaining legacy MPV names combined.
It means that the Tourneo, Rifter, Combo Life and Jogger outsold all 13 legacy MPV nameplates tracked in the analysis by more than nine to one in 2025, despite their continuing similarities in image and character.
VDG says the trend is significant because it shows that a label losing consumer appeal does not mean the end of the underlying product.
To identify the underlying trend VDG stripped its industry benchmark data of vehicles that are inconsistently tagged as people carriers in the underlying registration data but are marketed and sold as SUVs, including Tesla's Model Y, BYD's Seal U and Sealion ranges and the Citroen C3 Aircross.
With those vehicles ignored, the real people-carrier segment was revealed in VDG's data. Registrations of true MPVs bottomed out at 41,610 in 2022, then grew for three consecutive years to reach 57,875 by 2025 - a resurgence of 39%.
VDG also emphasises that the recovery is not limited to a couple of standout models positively skewing the data. The number of individual models registering 200 or more units a year fell to a low of 42 in 2021, then grew to 50 by 2025. It means that manufacturers are investing more heavily in the segment again because consumers still demand the practicality they sought when the Renault Espace, Ford Galaxy and SEAT Alhambra ruled the school run.
Ben Hermer, Operations Director of VDG, said: "The rise, fall and rise again of the MPV suggests that drivers only fell out of love with the people carrier name, rather than the space and flexibility offered by the segment and now manufacturers are investing to meet that demand again.
"But what is most interesting is how we are seeing the effective relaunch of the sector as the stealth MPV."
Hermer says that the label-based decline of the original MPV was made explicit when Renault's design director, Gilles Vidal, told Auto Express magazine in 2024 that what the French call the 'monobox' MPV design was "out of fashion".*
In many cases manufacturers abandoned the boxy body to create sleeker vehicles that they could label differently, such as 'Crossover', but the emergence of unapologetically boxy looking MPVs again, such as the Dacia Jogger, shows that there's a hard core of drivers who still favour practicality over image.
But what we are seeing today is the adoption of ultra-practical van-derived vehicles which make a virtue of their boxy design and the appetite for them is revealed by the success of models like the Peugeot Rifter, Vauxhall Combo Life, Volkswagen Caddy Maxi and Ford Tourneo Custom, along with head-turners like the Volkswagen ID. Buzz.
So, while many MPVs were transformed into more adventurous looking SUV body styles, the segment is having a new lease of life as the stealth MPV - even if it no longer carries that label.