Crossover Utility Vehicle

A crossover or crossover utility vehicle (CUV) is a vehicle built on a car platform and combining, in highly variable degrees, features of a sport utility vehicle (SUV) with features from a passenger vehicle, especially those of a station wagon or hatchback.

Using the unibody construction typical of passenger vehicles instead of the body-on-frame platform used in light trucks and the original SUVs, the crossover combines SUV design features such as tall interior packaging, high H-point seating, high center of gravity, high ground-clearance or all-wheel-drive capability – with design features from an automobile such as a passenger vehicle's platform, independent rear suspension, car-like handling, lighter weight and better fuel economy than trucks or truck-based vehicles.

A crossover may borrow features from a station wagon or hatchback, such as the two-box design of a shared passenger/cargo volume with rear access via a third or fifth door, a liftgate – and flexibility to allow configurations that favor either passenger or cargo volume, e.g., fold-down rear seats.

Crossovers are offered with front wheel drive, rear wheel drive or all-wheel drive configurations. Crossovers are typically designed for only light off-road capability, if any at all.

Sources indicate the term crossover began as a marketing term, and a 2008 CNNMoney article indicated that "many consumers cannot tell the difference between an SUV and a crossover." A January 2008 Wall Street Journal blog article called crossovers "wagons that look like sport utility vehicles, but ride like cars."

Though crossovers have become a defined market in recent years, they are not a new concept. The 1948 Willys-Overland Jeepster convertible coupe offered many of the features that define the modern crossover. In 1955, the Russian GAZ-M20 Pobeda was modified into the M-72 version to become the first all-wheel drive car with a unibody. A concept car using a Jeep Wagoneer (SJ) drivetrain was designed in Greece as a luxury limousine and four vehicles were made by Neorion. The Russian off-road Vaz 2121 Niva was introduced in 1976 featuring a unibody body and some mechanical components from the VAZ-2101 compact sedan, the Fiat 124-based Lada, and it saw success as a vehicle "best described as agricultural." Another contender before the crossover description became common was the 1977 Matra Rancho.

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