According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a "sport utility vehicle" is "a rugged automotive vehicle similar to a station wagon but built on a light-truck chassis". The "SUV" term is defined as "a large vehicle that is designed to be used on rough surfaces but that is often used on city roads or highways." The "SUV" acronym "is still used to describe nearly anything with available all-wheel drive and raised ground clearance."
There are a number of definitions for an SUV.Most government regulations simply have categories for "off-highway vehicles," which in turn are lumped in with pickup trucks and minivans as light trucks." The auto industry has not settled on one definition.
Nevertheless, four-wheel-drive SUVs are considered light trucks in North America (and two-wheel-drive SUVs up to the 2011 model year) where they were regulated less strictly than passenger cars under two laws in the United States, the Energy Policy and Conservation Act for fuel economy, and the Clean Air Act for emissions. Starting in 2004, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began to hold sport utility vehicles to the same tailpipe emissions standards as cars. However, most people who own an SUV would usually call it a car instead of a truck because it is very similar to a Station Wagon and good for family trips as it became popular with families.
Many people question "how can an SUV be called a truck?" Although the original definition of the "light truck" classification included pickups and delivery vans, usually SUVs and minivans are included in this category because these vehicles are designed to "permit greater cargo-carying capacity than passenger carrying volume. Manufacturing, emissions, and safety regulations in the U.S. classify "an SUV is a truck"; however, for local licensing and traffic enforcement, "an SUV may be a truck or a car" because the classification of these vehicles varies from state to state. For industry production statistics, SUVs are counted in the light truck product segment.
Early SUVs were descendants from commercial and military vehicles as the World War II Jeep and Land Rover.[
The earliest examples of longer-wheelbase wagon-type SUVs were the Chevrolet Carryall Suburban (1935, RWD only), GAZ-61 (1938, 4×4), Willys Jeep Station Wagon (1948), Pobeda M-72 (GAZ-M20/1955), which Russian references credit as possibly being the first modern SUV (with unitary body rather than body-on-frame), International Harvester Travelall (1953), Land Rover Series II 109 (1958), and the International Harvester Scout 80 (1961). These were followed by the more 'modern' Jeep Wagoneer (1963), International Harvester Scout II (1971), Ford Bronco (1966), Toyota Land Cruiser FJ-55 (1968), the Chevrolet Blazer/GMC Jimmy (1969), and the Land Rover Range Rover (1970). The actual term "sport utility vehicle" did not come into wide popular usage until the late 1980s; many of these vehicles were marketed during their era as station wagons.
According to Robert Casey, the transportation curator at the Henry Ford Museum, the Jeep Cherokee (XJ) was the first true sport utility vehicle in the modern understanding of the term.[23] Developed under the leadership of AMC's François Castaing and marketed to urban families as a substitute for a traditional car (and especially station wagons, which were still fairly popular at the time), the Cherokee had four-wheel drive in a more manageable size (compared to the full-size Wagoneer), as well as a plush interior resembling a station wagon.[23] With the introduction of more luxurious models and a much more powerful 4-liter engine, sales of the Cherokee increased even higher as the price of gasoline fell, and the term "sport utility vehicle" began to be used in the national press for the first time. "The advent and immediate success of AMC/Jeep's compact four-door Cherokee turned the truck industry upside down."
SUVs became popular in the United States, Canada, India and Australia in the 1990s and early-2000s. U.S. automakers could enjoy profit margins of $10,000 per SUV, while losing a few hundred dollars on a compact car.[28] For example, the Ford Excursion could net the company $18,000, while they could not break even with the Ford Focus unless the buyer chose options, leading Detroit's big three automakers to focus on SUVs over small cars.
The higher cost of union labor in the U.S. and Canada compared to the lower wages of non-union workers at non-U.S. companies like Toyota, made it unprofitable for American auto makers to build small cars in the U.S. For example, the General Motors factory in Arlington, Texas where rear-wheel-drive cars were built, such as the Chevrolet Caprice, Buick Roadmaster, and Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham was converted to truck and SUV production, putting an end to full-size family station wagon and overall terminating production of rear-wheel drive full-size cars. Due to the shift in the Big Three's strategy, many long-running cars like the Ford Taurus, Buick Century and Pontiac Grand Prix fell behind their Japanese competitors in features and image (relying more on fleet sales instead of retail and/or heavy incentive discounts); some were discontinued.
SUVs are sometimes driven off-road on farms and in remote areas of such places as the Australian Outback, Africa, the Middle East, Alaska, Canada, Iceland, South America, Russia and parts of Asia which have limited paved roads and require a vehicle to have all-terrain handling, increased range, and storage capacity. The scarcity of spare parts and the need to carry out repairs quickly resulted in the popularity of vehicles with the bare minimum of electric and hydraulic systems, such as the basic versions of the Land Rover, Jeep Wrangler, Nissan Patrol and Toyota Land Cruiser. SUVs for urban driving have traditionally been developed from their more rugged all-terrain counterparts. For example, the Hummer H1 was developed from the HMMWV, originally developed for the military of the United States.
As many SUV owners never used the off-road capabilities of their vehicle, newer SUVs (including crossovers) now have lower ground clearance and suspension designed primarily for paved roads.
Some buyers choose SUVs because they have more interior space than sedans of similar sizes. In areas with gravel roads in summer and snow and ice in winter, four-wheel drives offer a safety advantage due to their traction advantages under these conditions.
Numerous luxury vehicles in the form of SUVs and pickup trucks are being produced. Luxury SUV is principally a marketing term to sell fancier vehicles that may have higher performance, comfort, technology, or brand image. The term lacks both measurability and verifiability, and it is applied to a broad range of SUV sizes and types.
Nevertheless, the marketing category was created in 1966 with Kaiser Jeep's luxurious Super Wagoneer. It was the first SUV to offer a V8 engine, automatic transmission, and luxury car trim and equipment in a serious off-road model. It came with bucket seating, air conditioning, sun roof, and even a vinyl roof. Land Rover followed suit in 1970 by introducing the Range Rover. The trend continued with other competitors adding comfort features to their rudimentary and truck-based models.
The production of luxury models increased in the late-1990s with vehicles such as the Lincoln Navigator and Cadillac Escalade. These luxury SUVs generated higher profit margins than non-luxury SUVs did. For some auto makers, luxury SUVs were the first SUV models they produced. Some of these models are not traditional SUVs based on light truck as they are classified as crossovers.
In Australia and New Zealand, the term SUV is not widely used, except by motoring organizations,the press,[58] and industry bodies. Passenger class vehicles designed for off-road use are known as 'four-wheel drives', '4WDs', or '4×4s'. Some manufacturers do refer to their products as SUVs, but others invented names such as XUV, (HSV Avalanche XUV or GMC Envoy XUV) or action utility vehicles (AUVs). The term 'AWD', or all-wheel drive, is used for any vehicle which drives on all four wheels, but may not be designed for off-road use. 'Crossover' is a marketing term for a vehicle that is both four-wheel-drive and primarily a road car.
The pejorative term "Toorak Tractor" is used in Australia to describe vehicles such as Range Rovers used in wealthy urban areas where off-road ability is not required. The term alludes to the affluent Melbourne suburb of Toorak. It was used at least as early as the late 1980s. The equivalent term "Chelsea Tractor" became prominent in the United Kingdom around 2004 to describe vehicles such luxury SUVs used in urban areas such as Chelsea, London, where their four-wheel-drive capabilities are not required and the car is believed to be a status symbol rather than a necessity. The term "4×4" (four-by-four) is also common even for vehicles not used in urban areas. "AWD" is not commonly used in the UK. The less capable SUVs also pick up the name "soft-roader" because while they appear designed to go off road, in many cases they're not actually capable of it.
In Norway the term "Børstraktor" (Stock Exchange Tractor) serves a similar purpose.
In Finland the term "katumaasturi" is commonly used to designate SUVs. It roughly translates to street-off-roader, or street-4×4. This marks the difference with what is called "maasturi" which is a vehicle with off-road capability.
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