Marketing aside, crossover generally refers to a unibody vehicle (unit construction instead of a body-on-frame like a full-size truck or SUV) that features a hatchback or small wagon body style, a slightly higher ride height, all-wheel drive, semi-rugged design cues and often an outdoorsy or clever naming scheme.

Originally a stand-alone descriptor, marketers started adding “SUV” in an effort to create a broader understanding and appeal. Toyota is believed to have coined the term with the introduction of its RAV4 in the mid-1990s.

What is a crossover SUV?Ī crossover SUV, sometimes abbreviated as “CUV,” or simply “crossover,” is a vehicle that combines the attributes of a traditional car with those of an SUV. The proliferation of SUV-like vehicles in the late twentieth century gave rise to the term crossover to help delineate between truck-based and car-based vehicles. Since then, the term SUV-or some form of it-has been stretched to have a much broader definition, including smaller unibody vehicles like the Jeep Grand Cherokee. The first use of the “SUV” abbreviation is generally credited to a Jeep Cherokee advertising brochure from 1974 traditionally, SUV is still reserved for body-on-frame vehicles like Jeep Grand Wagoneer and Chevrolet Suburban. But it was also capable of a day’s work, offering increased tow ratings, the capability to mount a plow in the front and providing safe, secure transport for home improvement supplies and tools in the back. However, unlike a station wagon, the sport utility was built on a rugged trucklike frame and offered four-wheel drive as its marquee option just the thing to get to those remote camping and fishing spots or make it through a snow squall en route to the slopes.

Like a station wagon, it provided room for passengers in the front with ample cargo space in the back for the attendant gear of the emerging middle-class post-war suburban family. SUV is an abbreviation of “Sport Utility Vehicle.” Though the roots of Sports Utility Vehicles trace back to truck-based military personnel, light combat vehicles and industrial trucks, most experts agree the 1963 Jeep Wagoneer was the first commercially available sports utility vehicle.

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