Sports utility vehicles and utes are more car-like than ever. But it’s not necessarily a new trend.
We like to think of SUVs as being quite a new thing, don’t we?
It’s certainly a vehicle genre that’s grown in prominence over the last decade, with SUV sales outstripping those of conventional passenger cars in many markets – including New Zealand.
What’s the appeal? It might be the pseudo-rugged styling, in an age where so many people complain that all cars are starting to look the same. It might be the higher ride height, giving driver and passengers a valuable visual advantage in today’s congested traffic conditions. Although if SUV sales continue to rise, everybody will be driving them and you’ll have to go up another level to see past the traffic again!
Or perhaps it’s simply because a new vehicle is such a large investment, buyers want maximum value from their big purchase and the car industry has found the ideal vehicle to meet those demands in the SUV genre.
That’s the thing about SUVs: they can do almost any job and often they fulfil multiples roles. An SUV can be a city car, family wagon, practical load-all, luxury express or even a serious performance machine. Some of them can even (shock) go off-road.
That’s why the term ‘‘crossover’’ is often employed as a synonym for ‘‘SUV’’. These vehicles can potentially wrap a lot of seemingly disparate talents into one hugely appealing package.
Just as hardcore off-road wagons have evolved into more versatile SUVs, those much-loved workhorses we call utes are doing the same. Modern one-tonne pickup-trucks are still capable of dealing with the rough stuff, but high-end double-cab versions are now dangerously close to the high style, refinement and equipment of many SUVs. Which is why so many people are buying and using them as SUV-substitutes.
Know what? Despite the explosion of product-development by the motor industry and the buying public’s ever-increasing fascination with SUVs and double cab utes, the concept of crossing off-road and passenger-car genres has been around for a really long time. A really long time.
Take a look at the beauty on this page: the 1946 Willys Wagon. As Willys (later Jeep) looked for new opportunities with its offroad vehicles after World War II, it used the architecture of its military models to create recreational vehicles for the civilian market. The Willys Wagon was a proper steel-bodied station wagon with seven seats, available in RWD or AWD, pitched to buyers as a model with maximum versatility and a certain street-cred. Sound familiar? Fast-forward 70 years and SUVs/utes have captured the imagination of buyers like never before. Over the pages to come, we hope you’ll be informed and entertained by our ultimate guide to the latest trends, product developments and sales sensations.