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Chrysler held a 25th anniversary celebration of its minivan just a few weeks ago, but it might as well have been a wake. What a tragedy.

Few vehicle types have suffered such a tragic and thoroughly undeserved fall from glory as the minivan. Somehow, through a wicked combination of bad marketing and changing demographics, the minivan has become an object of scorn and derision — the ultimate sign of a boring, hopeless, suburban lifestyle.

But minivans make too much sense to be headed to the scrap heap of automotive history. It's not fair and it's not right. No other vehicle does so many things so well at such a reasonable price, offering such standout safety scores.

Passenger cars and crossover vehicles don't have sliding doors, storage space and seats that fold into the floor. Minivans are the perfect vehicles for all the chores and challenges of busy, everyday, middle-class lives.And the makers of minivans just keep getting more clever and creative. Chrysler's fifth-generation minivans, the Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan, have something called Swivel 'N Go Seating, which allows the middle seats to swivel to face the third row. There is even a removable table between the rows.

Of course, Chrysler's Stow 'N Go seating remains. It allows the seats to fold into the floor. When the seats are erect, the seat bins provide a big chunk of hidden, out-of-the-way storage. What a fantastic feature.

The competition has also been creative. The Honda Odyssey pioneered flip-and-fold-down seats, as well as cylinder deactivation that saves fuel and cuts vehicle emissions. The Toyota Sienna, another safe and reliable family vehicle, offers a power-folding third-row seat and the Kia Sedona and Hyundai Entourage also offer many bells and whistles.

Yet the sales numbers are stark. Minivan sales, as a share of the Canadian marketplace, have plunged this decade.

In 2003, minivans made up 27.3 per cent of all light-truck sales in Canada — light trucks being minivans, pickups, vans large and small, sport-utility vehicles and crossover wagons. Almost 200,000 minivans were sold that year.

Last year, minivan sales plunged to 125,071, accounting for just 15.8 per cent of the market. And it's more of the same this year.

Canadian minivan sales are down another 17.8 per cent in 2008, which means this year will likely end with total minivan sales of about 100,000. Last year, more than 1.1 million Canadians and Americans bought minivans, but this year the total will likely come in at around 850,000 or less for the two countries combined.

High-flying minivans like the Grand Caravan/Town & Country once challenged for the title of best-selling vehicle in Canada. In 2005, Chrysler sold just under 66,000 combined, with only the F-Series pickup and the Honda Civic being more popular.

This year? A sad tale. Grand Caravan sales are down 26.3 per cent, even at a time when buyers are belt-tightening and fabulous deals on minivans abound.

Chrysler, for example, is offering discounts of more than $9,000 on remaining 2008 Grand Caravans. That brings the base price down to less than $20,000. And on 2009s, there is at least a $4,200 discount available. This for a van with air conditioning, cruise control, Stow 'N Go seating, room for seven passengers, power windows, door locks and mirrors and more.

It's a steal for anyone who needs to move around people and stuff, who chooses substance over style and who takes function over fashion. Period. Yet being un-cool, minivans are dying a slow death.

It simply makes no sense. SUVs, crossovers, sedans and all the rest are not, and can never be, as practical as a minivan — the perfect big box on wheels.

Yet minivan haters — too often sadly led by suburban moms and dads who soldiered through years and years of early-morning hockey practices and trips to the cottage only by the grace of the family van — now are holding sway over a fickle buying public.

Blame it on the sliding doors. They are a symbol of minivan-ness and have now stigmatized minivans as terminally un-hip suburban kid transporters. Yet what sort of door makes more sense than a sliding one in tight shopping mall parking spaces? Right. The minivan's sliding door.

So what have manufacturers done? Big ones like Ford have thrown in the towel completely. Ford discontinued making minivans to focus on so-called crossovers like the Edge and the Flex. They have SUV looks and proportions and even some level of minivan practicality, but they really are not as functional and affordable as a typical minivan.

General Motors? GM sold nearly 40,000 minivans last year in Canada — the Pontiac Montana/Montana SV6/Uplander trio. What is GM doing? The General announced it will stop producing minivans next year.

Marketing experts say the sliding door epitomizes the less-exciting realities of minivan ownership — of being stuck in the rut of having a family. That's poison for baby boomers who in large measure have moved on from being parents, or will soon. Crossovers and SUVs, on the other hand, apparently symbolize vibrancy and youth, of go-anywhere, do-anything freedom.

So to move the metal, even famously frugal Japanese companies like Toyota and Honda, which sell the popular Sienna and Odyssey minivans, respectively, have green-lighted discounts. Toyota is offering a $1,500 gas gift card or the equivalent discount on the Sienna and Honda has special finance and lease rates to sweeten the deal on an Odyssey.

No matter which minivan you choose, regardless of the make and model, you will definitely pay less to get more functionality than you would for any comparably sized crossover or SUV.

It's a shame, but minivans are slipping from the collective consciousness of the buying public. For now.

But as the kids of baby boomers have kids of their own, as they discover the practicality and value of the minivan for family life, perhaps there will be a renaissance, a reawakening.

Perhaps, as the Monty Python boys would say, the minivan is not dead; it's just sleeping.