Cross Over Automobiles - CUVs
A Crossover, or CUV (crossover utility vehicle) is a marketing term for a vehicle that derives from a car while borrowing features from an SUV.
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. Most importantly, a crossover forgoes the body on frame construction of the SUV in favor of the car’s unibody or monocoque construction. CUV’s 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 CUV’s, “wagons that look like sport utility vehicles but ride like cars,” While the segment has notable historical antecedants, 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 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 CUV’s or crossovers includes:
- Compact to mid-sized sedan-derived CUV’s: e.g., Lexus RX 350, BMW X3.
- Station wagon or hatchback-derived CUV’s: e.g., Volvo XC90, Ford Taurus X, Cadillac SRX, Subaru Forester.
- Minivan-like vehicles: e.g., Dodge Journey, Chrysler Pacifica (now retired).
- The European MPV or large MPV may broadly resemble the crossover, including vehicles such as the 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