The Town & Country finished last year as the best-selling minivan in the U.S., and many of those sales were of the outgoing version; the 2011 Town & Country didn't reach dealerships until late in the year.

With its updates for 2011, the Town & Country is well-positioned to keep its title in the segment despite revised competition from Nissan, Honda and Toyota. What will be interesting to see is whether these new minivans foreshadow a growth in the minivan segment relative to the rest of the market. With a post-recession citizenry focused on more practical purchases, the time might be ripe for such a shift.