Crossover vehicles are blurring the traditional lines between cars, minivans and sport-utility vehicles. That's quite a feat since few folks know exactly what they are.
The term "crossover" is a one-word moniker for a sport-utility that uses a car chassis. According to the Edmunds.com Data Department, there are now 41 crossovers on the road. They range from the first one, Toyota's RAV4, to the much maligned Pontiac Aztek to the sleekly styled Infiniti FX to the high-priced Mercedes-Benz R-Class.
Today, a crossover can be just about any vehicle with unibody construction, a relatively high seating position, available four-wheel drive (or not) and a reasonable amount of cargo space. And it can seat at least four. Upcoming models include the compact Dodge Caliber and the seven-passenger Buick Enclave.
Yet automakers and the media alike insist on using the word "crossover" to describe a group of vehicles that come in all shapes and sizes; and one that will multiply into even more shapes and sizes in the future.
As more of these vehicles, with their multitude of styles and uses, come to market, it will become even more difficult to lump them into one bunch like sedans — four doors define them. Yet forecasters predict that crossovers will outsell traditional sport-utilities this year. Still, "there is no such thing as a crossover," says George Peterson, president of AutoPacific. "It's a term that the industry uses that has no meaning for consumers."
Cutting a wide swath
Ed Welburn, vice president of global design at General Motors, says that the time may come when there will be trucks and very spirited cars, and everything else will be "kind of" blended in the middle. Already, so-called crossovers are cutting a wide swath across automotive segments.
Jeri Ward, marketing manager for the Ford Edge, says there are four types of crossovers: those modeled after traditional SUVs, those that look like small SUVs, those that look like wagons, and the modern crossover vehicle. There's also an emerging fifth type, those that look like minivans.
The Mazda 5 is counted by Ward's as a small crossover. But it has sliding rear doors and three rows of seats. That, plus its compact size make it a micro-minivan. Give it hinged rear doors and it looks like a four-door hatchback. Add sliding rear doors to the $50,000 Mercedes-Benz R-Class, and you have a long-wheelbase minivan. But automakers are loath to call a new vehicle a minivan. "Someone who buys a crossover is someone who probably belongs in a minivan, but they can't deal with the image," says Ralph Gilles, director of Dodge Truck Studio, SRT Design at the Chrysler Group. "That's really what it comes down to."
Indeed, the majority of buyers of Ford's crossovers — the Escape, the Freestyle and the Mercury Mariner — are 35 to 39 years old, care for children and in many cases their parents. Almost 85 percent of them are married. But modern crossovers are destined to dilute that demographic. "Unique and distinctive," says Ford's Ward, "there really isn't an American product out there that competes in that area."
Modern crossovers
Infiniti's FX and its stablemate, the Nissan Murano, may have been the first modern crossovers. But Mazda's sleek CX-7 will undoubtedly cause a stir when it goes on sale in late spring. It's described as a blend of sports car and SUV.
Automotive News described Hyundai's HCD9 Talus concept as "a cross between a crossover and a sporty coupe." And at Suzuki, management expects crossovers to eventually account for half of all light truck sales. Since crossovers are car-based, the definition of light trucks, cars or both would have to be redefined to make that prediction official.
"There are some trap doors in the whole crossover field," says Adrian van Hooydonk, director of BMW Brand Design. "What people are not looking for is something that combines a little bit of everything."
In other words, crossovers are going to be very specialized vehicles that appeal to small niches. As they proliferate, the dozen analysts, brand managers, designers, general managers, marketing managers, and product planners interviewed by Inside Line predict that crossovers are going to marginalize cars, minivans and sport-utilities. And the bottom line is that enthusiasts and consumers are going to love it.
The horsepower war
Because of the proliferation of multipurpose vehicles, cars, minivans and SUVs are going to be designed and engineered to meet very specific needs; in other words, for what they were intended to be in the first place. Multipurpose vehicles, meanwhile, will mirror the electronic industry where consumers can customize systems to their personal tastes. "We as manufacturers are going to be doing more variations of vehicles to meet individual needs," says Tom Tremont, vice president of advanced design at the Chrysler Group.
As the lines between automotive segments blur, the need to stand out will become even more urgent. All vehicles will be more distinctively styled but the most robust shapes will be used on multipurpose vehicles. "Unibody construction gives more leeway in terms of design and [its light weight] allows for far better performance," says Dodge's Gilles.
The horsepower wars that started with pickup trucks and spread to luxury performance cars have engulfed multipurpose vehicles as well. Mazda's CX-7 will have a 244-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder, Ford's Edge and Lincoln's MKX will share a 3.5-liter, 250-hp V6, and Hyundai's Talus concept sports a 4.6-liter V8 that makes 340 hp.
As for design, the Audi RoadJet, Ford Reflex, Jeep Compass, Kia Soul, Mazda Kabura, Subaru B5-TPH, and Toyota's F3R are indicators of the shapes to come. But manufacturers and the media will dub most of them crossovers, a term that is meaningless to consumers. "Manufacturers are just using the crossover card willy-nilly," says AutoPacific's Peterson.
Call them crossovers, or call them multipurpose vehicles, it doesn't matter. "Clearly, manufacturers' gross-profit-per-unit is going to shrink with these vehicles, unless you're able to steal market share," says AutoTrend analysts Joe Philippi. "Implicit in that is very aggressive styling, more performance, more value for the money."
And to consumers, if anything, the term "crossover" undoubtedly will come to mean what a vehicle is not: a car, a minivan or a sport-utility vehicle.
The term "crossover" is a one-word moniker for a sport-utility that uses a car chassis. According to the Edmunds.com Data Department, there are now 41 crossovers on the road. They range from the first one, Toyota's RAV4, to the much maligned Pontiac Aztek to the sleekly styled Infiniti FX to the high-priced Mercedes-Benz R-Class.
Today, a crossover can be just about any vehicle with unibody construction, a relatively high seating position, available four-wheel drive (or not) and a reasonable amount of cargo space. And it can seat at least four. Upcoming models include the compact Dodge Caliber and the seven-passenger Buick Enclave.
Yet automakers and the media alike insist on using the word "crossover" to describe a group of vehicles that come in all shapes and sizes; and one that will multiply into even more shapes and sizes in the future.
As more of these vehicles, with their multitude of styles and uses, come to market, it will become even more difficult to lump them into one bunch like sedans — four doors define them. Yet forecasters predict that crossovers will outsell traditional sport-utilities this year. Still, "there is no such thing as a crossover," says George Peterson, president of AutoPacific. "It's a term that the industry uses that has no meaning for consumers."
Cutting a wide swath
Ed Welburn, vice president of global design at General Motors, says that the time may come when there will be trucks and very spirited cars, and everything else will be "kind of" blended in the middle. Already, so-called crossovers are cutting a wide swath across automotive segments.
Jeri Ward, marketing manager for the Ford Edge, says there are four types of crossovers: those modeled after traditional SUVs, those that look like small SUVs, those that look like wagons, and the modern crossover vehicle. There's also an emerging fifth type, those that look like minivans.
The Mazda 5 is counted by Ward's as a small crossover. But it has sliding rear doors and three rows of seats. That, plus its compact size make it a micro-minivan. Give it hinged rear doors and it looks like a four-door hatchback. Add sliding rear doors to the $50,000 Mercedes-Benz R-Class, and you have a long-wheelbase minivan. But automakers are loath to call a new vehicle a minivan. "Someone who buys a crossover is someone who probably belongs in a minivan, but they can't deal with the image," says Ralph Gilles, director of Dodge Truck Studio, SRT Design at the Chrysler Group. "That's really what it comes down to."
Indeed, the majority of buyers of Ford's crossovers — the Escape, the Freestyle and the Mercury Mariner — are 35 to 39 years old, care for children and in many cases their parents. Almost 85 percent of them are married. But modern crossovers are destined to dilute that demographic. "Unique and distinctive," says Ford's Ward, "there really isn't an American product out there that competes in that area."
Modern crossovers
Infiniti's FX and its stablemate, the Nissan Murano, may have been the first modern crossovers. But Mazda's sleek CX-7 will undoubtedly cause a stir when it goes on sale in late spring. It's described as a blend of sports car and SUV.
Automotive News described Hyundai's HCD9 Talus concept as "a cross between a crossover and a sporty coupe." And at Suzuki, management expects crossovers to eventually account for half of all light truck sales. Since crossovers are car-based, the definition of light trucks, cars or both would have to be redefined to make that prediction official.
"There are some trap doors in the whole crossover field," says Adrian van Hooydonk, director of BMW Brand Design. "What people are not looking for is something that combines a little bit of everything."
In other words, crossovers are going to be very specialized vehicles that appeal to small niches. As they proliferate, the dozen analysts, brand managers, designers, general managers, marketing managers, and product planners interviewed by Inside Line predict that crossovers are going to marginalize cars, minivans and sport-utilities. And the bottom line is that enthusiasts and consumers are going to love it.
The horsepower war
Because of the proliferation of multipurpose vehicles, cars, minivans and SUVs are going to be designed and engineered to meet very specific needs; in other words, for what they were intended to be in the first place. Multipurpose vehicles, meanwhile, will mirror the electronic industry where consumers can customize systems to their personal tastes. "We as manufacturers are going to be doing more variations of vehicles to meet individual needs," says Tom Tremont, vice president of advanced design at the Chrysler Group.
As the lines between automotive segments blur, the need to stand out will become even more urgent. All vehicles will be more distinctively styled but the most robust shapes will be used on multipurpose vehicles. "Unibody construction gives more leeway in terms of design and [its light weight] allows for far better performance," says Dodge's Gilles.
The horsepower wars that started with pickup trucks and spread to luxury performance cars have engulfed multipurpose vehicles as well. Mazda's CX-7 will have a 244-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder, Ford's Edge and Lincoln's MKX will share a 3.5-liter, 250-hp V6, and Hyundai's Talus concept sports a 4.6-liter V8 that makes 340 hp.
As for design, the Audi RoadJet, Ford Reflex, Jeep Compass, Kia Soul, Mazda Kabura, Subaru B5-TPH, and Toyota's F3R are indicators of the shapes to come. But manufacturers and the media will dub most of them crossovers, a term that is meaningless to consumers. "Manufacturers are just using the crossover card willy-nilly," says AutoPacific's Peterson.
Call them crossovers, or call them multipurpose vehicles, it doesn't matter. "Clearly, manufacturers' gross-profit-per-unit is going to shrink with these vehicles, unless you're able to steal market share," says AutoTrend analysts Joe Philippi. "Implicit in that is very aggressive styling, more performance, more value for the money."
And to consumers, if anything, the term "crossover" undoubtedly will come to mean what a vehicle is not: a car, a minivan or a sport-utility vehicle.
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