Next-gen Chrysler minivan will be taller, wider with a rotary shifter

The next-generation Chrysler Town & Country minivan will get a rotary shifter and other interior features common in Fiat Chrysler vehicles.

The minivan also will be slightly taller and wider than the current version.

The revelations come from spy photographers and supplier documents posted online about Fiat Chrysler's reworking of its Windsor Assembly plant in Ontario.

The company's product plan calls for the redesigned minivan to be a 2017 model. Its development was delayed from a 2013 product plan that showed the redesigned minivan appearing in 2015.

Spy photographers caught their first extended glimpse of the redesigned vehicle's interior.

As expected, Chrysler's people hauler will sport the automaker's Uconnect infotainment system with an 8.4-inch touch screen. The minivan also is likely to be outfitted with the customizable 7-inch display screen in the instrument cluster.

The photographed test vehicle has the rotary shifter in a recessed bin in the center console in front of the armrest. The 2015 Town & Country's gated shifter is to the right of the steering wheel on the instrument panel.

The online supplier documents show the next-generation minivan -- which carries the two-letter body code RU -- will grow less than an inch in height and width over the current RT model. Overall length will remain the same.

Chrysler told investors in May that the next-generation Town & Country would come with an optional plug-in hybrid powertrain. The online supplier documents confirm that powertrain design.