What is a crossover vehicle?

What is the difference between a crossover and an SUV built on a car frame?

I called the Acura dealer about the Acura RDX, and they said that the RDX is a crossover, and it is built on a car frame. I also called the Volvo dealer about the Volvo XC-90, and they said that it is built on a car frame, but it is an SUV (not a crossover). I always thought that an SUV is built on a truck frame, and any vehicle that resembles an SUV built on a car frame is a crossover.

How is it that the Volvo XC-90 is still classified as an SUV even though it is built on a car frame? What other criteria are there for a vehicle to be classified as a crossover besides being an SUV-resembling vehicle built on a car frame?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 21:08 and is filed under Suburban Utility Vehicles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “What is a crossover vehicle?”

  1. The SUV segment is comprised of two types of vehicles – the Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) and the Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV-CVT-or just Crossover). There are over forty SUVs and almost thirty Crossovers that make up this segment. When PIN reported that SUVs were on the long tooth side of the dealers lot they were being kind to SUVs.

    SUVs have actually been on the dealers lot for almost ninety days – that’s over two years in dog years and when a vehicle has been on a dealers lot that long it is no longer man’s best friend.

    Crossovers are taking up the slack for SUVs by selling in 59 days. While SUVs make up 27 percent of the automotive industry, crossovers make up 40 percent of that market and ten percent of the total automotive industry. What is a crossover?

    Depending on the type of vehicle you drive, a crossover can look like a station wagon or an SUV. While considered a station wagon by many, Subaru is a car base platform that is known as one of the original crossovers. If you’ve been in a sedan, a Subaru will look like an SUV. If you’re coming out of an SUV, a Subaru looks like a station wagon. The most common attributes of a crossover are;

    Crossovers are usually front wheel drive
    Crossovers usually have a lower center of gravity
    Crossovers typically have less towing capacity
    Crossovers get better miles per gallon (mpg)than SUVs
    Crossovers can have a better resale value than an SUV

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