Crossing over

The decline of the SUV and minivan, the rise of the CUV:

The switch from sport utility vehicles to crossover utility vehicles in North America is helping to keep some Canadian auto plants humming, says a Bank of Nova Scotia report.

Crossovers, which combine the ride of a car with the space of an SUV, should become the largest segment in the North American market next year [emphasis added - MC], displacing mid-sized cars, Carlos Gomes, a senior Scotiabank economist, said in his monthly examination of the auto industry.

"CUVs have existed as a segment only since the 2000 model year and, like SUVs in the 1990s, the segment has witnessed phenomenal growth, climbing from only 7 per cent of overall Canadian and U.S. vehicle sales in 2002 to more than 17 per cent so far this year," Mr. Gomes said. "However, in contrast to the SUV craze, which peaked in 2003, demand for crossovers should continue to expand over the next decade."

[...]

High gas prices and a proliferation of new models in the CUV segment are helping to drive sales. Fuel economy of CUVs is better than that of SUVs in part because they are lighter in weight.

In addition to knocking mid-sized cars out of the leadership spot, CUVs have also helped to send minivan sales skidding [emphasis added].

Sales of minivans are down 18 per cent from 2006 and are on pace to slide to 1.1 million units in Canada and the United States this year, down from 2.1 million at the peak in 1999.

More here. The sales rise may in part be simply a question of definition. According to the second link the Toyota RAV4, which used to be considered an SUV, is now a CUV (Toyota says it's "Too intelligent to be categorized"). I guess the Honda CR-V is now a CUV too ("Total pleasure, "zero guilt"; "crossover-sized frame").

Mark C.

Damian adds: some of these "crossover" vehicles are quite nice, especially the Mazda CX-7 and Ford Edge. But if you want a family hauler, I still think you're better off with (gasp!) a minivan - or, even better, a Mazda 6 wagon (now discontinued, unfortunately, but there might be a few left).

Posted by markc at October 31, 2007 08:08 PM