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A crossover SUV or XUV is an automobile with a rugged sport utility vehicle appearance but a more economical car-based platform. The first of the line was possibly the AMC Eagle of 1980, marrying Jeep functionality with the AMC Concord platform and bodywork.
However, AMC was probably too far ahead of its time.
In the 1990s, the overwhelming popularity of the SUV segment, which was traditionally truck-based, caused an explosion of creativity in vehicle packaging. Cars like the Subaru Outback and minivans like the Pontiac Aztek and Mazda MPV were overtly marketed as SUVs, even though they clearly were different vehicles. However, consumers rapidly accepted these alternatives, and the crossover market was born.
Advantages
Car-based crossover SUVs vehicles have three primary advantages over truck-based SUVs:
- Handling - The unsafe handling of trucks in emergencies has been demonstrated and accepted. Their high center of gravity, tall tire sidewalls, and stiff suspensions (designed for heavy cargo and off-road use) make designing a truck-based SUV to be resistant to rollovers extremely difficult. Car-based crossovers ride lower and feature more advanced suspension designs, making them much safer.
- Economy - Car-based crossovers are much lighter than their heavy-duty truck-based cousins. They also often feature light-duty all wheel drive rather than less-efficient four wheel drive, and come equipped with more practical road-oriented tires. Most crossovers get only slightly worse fuel economy than station wagons and sedans based on the same platform.
- Cost - Light-duty car components can be cheaper to build, and crossovers often use unibody construction (they lack a frame) which allows them to be built and sold for less. In fact, many crossovers are based on small economy cars rather than larger sedans, driving costs lower still.
History
Although the Subaru Outback, Pontiac Aztek, and Mazda MPV All Sport were sold with truck-like advertisements, they were little changed from their non-SUV brothers. The first true crossovers were the Subaru Forester (based on the small Impreza) and Lexus RX300 (based on the Toyota Camry). The small Toyota RAV4 and Honda CRV were also early crossovers.
Today, the market has exploded. A short list of current crossovers follows (similar vehicles are grouped together):
See also
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