If you look at the present Chevrolet line-up, it only has one van to offer. That model is the Express van, and there hasn't been an all-new model since 1996. The 27-year-old van even got a new engine for the 2020 model year, but it soldiers on as the only one of its kind to wear a Chevrolet badge.
But back then, Chevy had more vans available, namely the Venture and the Astro. The Venture was killed off in 2004 and replaced by the Uplander (discontinued in 2009). The Astro, on the other hand, hung around for another year. The 'midi-van' (as General Motors called it) wrapped up 20 years of production in 2005.
The Astro hasn't been around for the past 17 years, but it has gained a cult following. Thanks to its truck chassis and available all-wheel drive, it's still seen as a practical workhorse, campervan, or overlander. With that, should GM revive the Astro or leave it for dead? YouTube channel TheSketchMonkey explored that option. Not only that, he digitally rebooted it as an EV van.
TheSketchMonkey decided to modernize the Astro by taking inspiration from the Silverado EV. He also cleaned up the lines, got rid of the body cladding, and added a few modern details. The design brief sounds straightforward, but there is much more to it than grafting a new face on an old van.
Surprisingly, the electric Silverado's nose fits well with the Astro after a bit of scaling. After all, the previous Astro vans bore the corporate face of the era, from the sloped front end of the 1985 to 1995 models, to the split grille look of the later versions. That said, there is one tiny gaff in this render, and that's the Chevrolet badge. The logo slants to the left instead of the right. Nonetheless, it's a fresh take on the long-extinct van.
