Crossover vs SUV, what's the difference? The chief behind the 2022 Honda HR-V explains

You’ve probably heard or read comments that says something along the lines of “The Honda HR-V is not an SUV, it’s a crossover. An SUV is something like a Toyota Fortuner.” You can replace the former with any tarmac-biased tall riding vehicle, and the latter with any ladder frame 4x4.

Some say an SUV that is based on a passenger car should be called a crossover, not an SUV. But 9 out of 10 SUVs today are based on passenger cars, so it's questionable if this is still valid today.

Then there are other smart alecs who will come out an say “You’re all wrong, it’s a CUV!”

To find out, we spoke to Yoshitomo Ihashi, Large Project Leader of the RV generation 2022 Honda HR-V. When asked what’s the difference between a crossover and a SUV, he explained,

“If I recall, just about 10 years ago, an SUV is basically a rugged SUV, a minivan is a minivan, so the bodystyle basically resemble the category, whereas now it’s getting mixed so people start calling it a crossover.

"So, if it’s a high-rider but still gets sporty-type styling then people would start calling it a crossover. But from Honda’s point of view, and from the development team’s point of view, we are offering this new HR-V as a compact SUV. How it is defined depends on how the development team plans the concept and how it executes. For this one, we are trying to offer the value of a compact SUV,” Yoshitomo Ihashi, Large Project Leader for the Honda HR-V, taking over from Kojiro Okabe, his predecessor who has since moved on to another role.

One of the key design element of the HR-V is its sloping, almost coupe-like side profile (rear door handles are hidden), with a fastback-style low roofline. 

Combine this with its front-wheel drive, passenger car-based platform, the HR-V is every bit a crossover, except that the people who created it don't call it as one.

In other words, there is no definition of a crossover. As explained by Ihashi, whether it's an SUV or a crossover is up to the development team's own image of the product.

Nobody knows exactly what defines a crossover so strictly speaking, the term don't exist in automotive lexicons. It's just one of those words that don't mean anything, and you can use it on whatever high ground clearance, urban-biased passenger-carrying vehicle you fancy. Likewise for the term SUV.

Having said that, Honda marketing teams in different parts of the world are free to use whichever term that suits their local market better.

In the US for example, the previous generation Honda CR-V was launched as a crossover. The rationale is that in the US, Honda also sells the Passport, which is also 5-seater like the CR-V, but with a distinctively more rugged SUV image.

However, the latest generation 2023 Honda CR-V is now referred to simply as an SUV. So you see, the use of the term crossover / SUV is fluid and changes with time.

Also read: All-new 2023 Honda CR-V debuts with new 193 PS 1.5T engine; hybrid with 207 PS

Over in this part of the world, making distinctions between a crossover and an SUV simply makes things unnecessarily confusing for the average car buyer.

Even in Japan, there is no such thing as a CR-V crossover. The model is sold simply as an SUV.

The term SUV was created by American marketers in the late ‘80s, specifically by the people at Jeep, to differentiate cars like the Jeep Cherokee, which is aimed at families, from a rough 4x4 like a Jeep Wrangler. But the term only became popular in the late ‘90s, with the Ford Explorer, which has a softer image than the Ford Bronco.

For the launch of the Ford Explorer, the loosely defined SUV term was co-opted to differentiate it from the Ford Bronco, which drove and handled very differently from the softer Ford Explorer.

Ironically, this is the same reason why the term crossover is created today. It is made in response to a need to differentiate a new generation ever-softer, smaller SUVs.

Definitions of marketing terms are fluid, so don’t get dragged into useless debates on whether model XYZ is an SUV or a crossover. It is whatever you choose to call it, but the smart alec who insists on calling it a CUV needs to have a chair thrown at him.

Ten years later, someone is going to create another term to further differentiate an already very granular and blurred category lines. Oh wait, BMW has already done that. It’s called the SAV – Sports Activity Vehicle.

We live in an era where even gender and sexuality are blurred, so it's not surprising that lines separating vehicle bodystyles are blurred too. There is no longer a clear demarcation pointing where a 4x4 stops being a 4x4 and becomes an SUV, and where an SUV becomes a crossover.

If you think this is confusing, wait till we bring you down the slippery slope of SUV-coupes like the Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe, or SUV-convertibles like the VW T-Roc Cabriolet.

It’s not just bodystyles that are blurred, but vehicle segments too. People need to stop saying things like Model X and Model Y cannot be compared because they are from different segments, because consumers no longer shop for cars this way. Market-driven manufacturers have also long stopped thinking along such lines. 

The Perodua Ativa for example, is bigger than a traditional A-segment SUV like a Daihatsu Taft, but at the same time it isn't quite a B-segment SUV like a Honda HR-V.

And speaking of the HR-V, it’s categorized as a B-segment SUV only because it rides on the same platform as a Honda City and City Hatchback, but its dimensions is actually too big for traditional B-segment SUVs like a Ford Ecosport or Mazda CX-3.

Under a very rigid, traditional thinking, the B-segment HR-V cannot be compared against the Corolla Altis-based C-segment Toyota Corolla Cross. Try telling that to the 20k buyers who put money down on one because they have cross-shopped with a Corolla Cross but didn't like it.

Also read: For RM 140k, should the 2022 Honda HR-V RS e:HEV or Corolla Cross Hybrid get your money?

What matters these days is not what segment a vehicle sits in, but what the product is designed to do, who it is targeted at, and most importantly, what’s its price. If it falls under the same shopping basket, then it is a valid comparison, segments and marketing terms be damned.