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Crossover SUV
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A crossover — variously called CUV or crossover utility vehicle — is a marketing term for a vehicle that derives from a car platform while borrowing features from an SUV or Minivan.
The crossover combines, in highly variable degrees, the design features such as tall interior packaging, high H-point seating, high ground-clearance, or all-wheel-drive capability of the SUV — with design features from an automobile platform such as car-like handling, ride, or economy.
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Encyclopedia
A crossover — variously called CUV or crossover utility vehicle — is a marketing term for a vehicle that derives from a car platform while borrowing features from an SUV or Minivan.
The crossover combines, in highly variable degrees, the design features such as tall interior packaging, high H-point seating, high ground-clearance, or all-wheel-drive capability of the SUV — with design features from an automobile platform such as car-like handling, ride, or economy. A crossover also uses a car's unibody or monocoque construction while forgoing the body on frame construction in use on most SUVs. CUVs typically are designed for only light off-road capability, if at all.
The term crossover began as a marketing term, and a 2008 CNNMoney article indicated that "many consumers can't tell the difference between an SUV and a crossover." A January, 2008 Wall Street Journal article called the CUVs, "wagons that look like sport utility vehicles but ride like cars,"
While the segment has notable historical antecedents, it had come into strong visibility in the US by 2006, when crossover sales "made up more than 50% of the overall SUV market." Sales in the crossover market segment increased in 2007 by 16%, Notably, the crossover segment is one of the few segments of the light truck market where import brands lead domestic brands, and the segment has strong appeal to aging baby boomers.
The broad spectrum of CUVs or crossovers includes:
- Compact to mid-sized sedan-derived CUVs: e.g., BMW X3, Cadillac SRX, Honda CR-V, Lexus RX 350.
- Full sized minivan or sedan-derived CUVs: e.g., Saturn Outlook/Chevrolet Traverse, Toyota Highlander, Ford Flex
- Station wagon or hatchback-derived CUVs: e.g., Subaru Forester, Ford Freestyle
- Minivan-like vehicles: e.g., Dodge Journey, Kia Rondo, Mazda 5 (Mazda Premacy).
The European MPV or large MPV may broadly resemble the crossover, including vehicles such as the Mercedes-Benz R-Class, VW Golf Plus, Ford Kuga, Renault Koleos and Ford S-Max. Notably, during the development of the Dodge Journey CUV, Dodge benchmarked the S-Max.
Historical antecedents
The 1957 Moskvitch 410 (the 4WD version of the Moskvitch 402) is an early example of a CUV. A later example is the AMC Eagle, which debuted in 1980. The Eagle combined modest off-road functionality with the AMC Concord platform and bodywork (sedan, wagon, and hatchback) all with raised ground clearance.
Notably, certain vehicles that pre-date the term "crossover" more logically meet crossover rather than SUV criteria, vehicles such as the Subaru Forester, Subaru Outback or Audi allroad quattro. By the same token, certain SUVs feature the crossover's trademark unibody construction, vehicles such as the Lada Niva and Jeep Cherokee (XJ), though capable of full off-road duty.
CUV models
A short list of current crossovers with their platform genealogy follows (similar vehicles are grouped together):
From Five-Seater To Seven-Seater
In 2006, the Toyota RAV4 became the first small SUV to add a 7-seat version during the redesign, and became one of the first crossover SUVs to add an optional third row seat. By 2007, the Mitsubishi Outlander, BMW X5 and Hyundai Santa Fe added 7-seat models, with the X5 dropping the 5-seat model entirely.
See also
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