[Arsenic]

Crossovers Around The World

This series is inspired by the Automotive History series of the YouTube channel Ed's Auto Reviews. Do subscribe to their channel!

Crossovers. The world's dullest vehicle. A car with the charisma of a chalkboard. Every car purist hates them. Damn you, Mitsubishi - for turning the iconic Eclipse into a boring grocery-getter. Damn you, Ford - for selling a generic electric midsize crossover with no personality as a Mustang. Damn you, Chevy - for bringing back the Blazer as an unexciting midsize piece of junk. Damn you...

Everybody is making a crossover. Look at Ferrari: they hated the concept of the SUV. Then again, anything to fund the F1 team...

Lotus, an iconic British manufacturer known for its lightweight sports cars (and its continuous use of Toyota engines) unveils an... electric crossover as the future of the brand?

And then there's Mitsubishi, who discontinued the iconic Pajero just to concentrate on selling soccer mom SUVs. Then again, with the new ASX just being a lazy rebadge of a Renault Captur, perhaps they too hate SUVs. Or perhaps they just hate selling cars. Back to air conditioners, I guess.

As bland as the crossover is, it is the new family sedan. Every automaker from every country is building one. Some of them are not that boring. Some of them are generic rehashed bargain-bin stale recycled processed 'car loaf'. Either way, let's begin.

[Arsenic]

The Americas

The USA

I want to showcase the most 'unique' crossover in every country. So an unexciting Equinox or Compass will not be shown here. I'd rather show something more interesting - the Ford Evos.



But it's not technically American, you say. It's China-only for now, and won't be coming to North America.

Well what would you rather I show? The Escape Hybrid?

The EVOS is a unique combination of sedan, wagon and crossover. It's certainly one of the more interesting cars Ford has released in the past few years (Mach-E, anyone?) and seems to effectively be a Mondeo for bad roads. The EVOS is produced by the Chang'an Ford joint venture and features a massive touchscreen on the dashboard on the inside which spans the whole dashboard. The 'I-hate-screens' crowd probably won't enjoy this one.



This probably would've been a lovely car in the Indian market. Or it could've been the next Chevrolet Sail, but let's try to stay positive. If only...

Brazil

Brazilian automakers are unfortunately few and far these days. However, an honorable mention to the Fiat Fastback, a South-America-only fastback crossover developed by a not-so-South-American company. Decent-looking thing, this.

The Rest of The Americas...?

Wow, this was a short one.

[Arsenic]

Europe

Bri'ain

The Bri'ish public are buying lots of crossovers. And lots of Bri'ish companies are making Bri'ish crossovers for the Bri'ish to enjoy. Which of these, however, is the most 'quintessentially Bri'ish' crossover?

Any of the newer Range Rover models? The proud Tata fans won't let me call it Bri'ish, so let's not get ourselves cancelled on Twitter...

Lotus Eletre? The proud Geely fans won't let me call it Bri'ish, so let's not get ourselves cancelled on Weibo...

MG ZS? It's not a roadster, but it is a quintessential MG in a way. It's an affordable 'thing' that doesn't have much in terms of 'wow factor', but hey, it works and looks decent. Ah, but SAIC owns them...

Bentley Bentayga? Rolls-Royce Cullinan? No, one's a glorified Touareg and the other is tailored specifically for a Qatari oil baron.

It all just leaves us with the Aston Martin DBX. Some readers will obnoxiously point out that Geely recently took out a 10% stake in Aston Martin. To all those readers, don't worry, I know. Now shut your piehole, as 83-year-old Debbie from Essex would say.



This is a crossover that the crumpet-enjoyers will proudly endorse. The only crossover that Bond would consider driving, when he doesn't want to give the DBS to the valet guy. It is stylish, it is luxurious. And depending on the version, it is fast as well (the mad DBX 707 comes to mind) - perfect for everyone who needs a car that can cruise while they sip their cuppa.

Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic

A quick VAG rapid-fire round of quick crossovers:

Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT - a ridiculously good-looking fast crossover with a twin-turbo V8 that makes 630 hp and enables the German beast to get from 0-60 in 3.1 seconds.

Cupra Formentor - SEAT's take on the performance crossover, the Formentor is the first vehicle designed specifically for the Cupra brand. One might be tempted to say it looks a bit like a MG ZS with a different body kit, but crossovers have genuinely become this generic nowadays.

Skoda Enyaq Coupe RS iV - essentially an Octavia RS on steroids, this fastback crossover offers some pretty good electric power and torque combined with some simply clever design. Honestly, all it does is make me want Skoda to make an ICE-powered Kodiaq VRS. But hey, the trees need saving.

France

Just like the Ford Evos shown earlier, the Citroen C5 X is a unique combo of a sedan, a wagon and a crossover. This time however, the C5X is actually sold in its home market (unlike the EVOS) and dare I say the Citroen looks better. Well done, my baguette-munching brothers.



The C5X also comes with a PHEV variant, and as Citroen's flagship. No wonder France is the home of fashion.

[Arsenic]

Asia

China

The Chinese love crossovers. Everyone and their grandmothers are making a crossover in China. As a consequence, it's tricky to pick out only one crossover that's special from China. After much deliberation, here it is: the Hongqi E-HS9. A car built to carry Mao and all his grandchildren in style.



The E-HS9 is China's electrified answer to the glorified Touareg and the Qatari tourer: it has an incredibly luxurious interior, bold and blingy styling, and a front grille reminiscent of the American chromemobiles back in the day. It certainly is quite something.

Japan

The Toyota RAV4 is considered by many to be the world's first crossover. However, the RAV4 is to the US what the WagonR is to India: it's a car. There's not much else that's interesting about it. So IMO the most interesting Japanese crossover right now is probably this: the Mazda CX-50. A CX-5 with a little extra muscle.



The CX-50 is intended to be a 'tougher' and 'more rugged' CX-5, but is actually built on the platform of the smaller CX-3. Regardless, it's certainly quite interesting in a sea of boring CR-Vs and Qashqais.

PS: For those wondering why I didn't pick the Subaru Outback, I still consider it a wagon...

South Korea

The tiny Hyundai Casper is probably the best representation of how everything is becoming a crossover. We saw midsize crossovers become more popular than midsize sedans and hatchbacks, subcompact and compact crossovers took away sales from small hatchbacks, and now modern city cars are all crossovers.



Korea's Tata Punch has been designed specifically to fit the 'light car' class and is built on the platform of the recently discontinued Santro, featuring some funky styling with a boxy silhouette.

India

And to conclude, let's talk about the motherland. Honestly, none of the crossovers in India are particularly special per se, but the Mahindra XUV7OO certainly takes the cake for the most interesting Indian crossover.



With it also being Team-BHP's car of the year in 2021, the hi-tech XUV offers a fantastic value proposition in today's market. Well done, Mahindra

[Aditya]

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[DicKy]

Nice to meet another Ed's Auto Reviews fan. Good taste I would say. Was in splits reading the British part. Especially the Bentley and Rolls Royce ones.

About crossovers. Internationally they are getting the same hate that mid size/compact FWD sedans used to get in the 2000s. Of being boring. Now sedans have become the exciting choice.

I understand the popularity of crossovers, but personally hate the blob trend. Crossovers to be should be raised stationwagons on stilts, rather than hatchbacks on stilts. Something utilitarian, like the initial generations of the Rav4, CR-V, Outlander etc. But due to the need for looking sporty, most modern crossovers have high beltlines, non existent rear quarter glasses, coupeish tailgates. Agreed there are various safety, environmental factors that lead to this. Still. Sporty crossovers (RWD/AWD ones) with competent engine/drivetrain can have that low slung fastback styling. , not mainstream crossovers that are being daily driven. Why would one drive a blobby crossover that doesn't have a proper boot space, ground clearance or utility over a normal sedan/stationwagon is beyond me. Some modern crossovers don't even have that much of an outward visibility, even if they have higher H-point seating than sedans.

My favourite blobby crossovers are the Genesis models and the Mazda CX60.

[TechnoBloop]

My mate did not miss a single chance to use the word Bri'ish!!
It was a good write-up, and funny too!

Everything has become a crossover nowadays, SUV Coupes being the ugliest. This is how I see them (please excuse my extremely professional artistic skills):



Why do SUV Coupes even exist? Only God can answer that question.

I like how the Chinese try to design their cars but everytime it ends up looking like a Bentley-Rolls Royce ripoff! xD

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by TechnoBloop

Why do SUV Coupes even exist? Only God can answer that question.

Well. It is a cyclic thing. Whitewalls? Long bonnet and long boot? Personal luxury car? Large SUV eventhough there will be max 3 passengers? Heavy duty pickup truck eventhough just for grocery haul? All these have been there for each decade as a sign for,

'Just because one can afford to.'

It is like one can buy a Fortuner or a Mini cooper for the same money. Even if the average Fortuner or Mini won't be used for even half their potential, a person can buy a Mini just for a statement. Like, "I know one could buy a 7 seater utilitarian vehicle for the same money, but am buying a at best 2 seater low slung stiff riding vehicle to just haul my ass around " The opposite of the Indian VFM thought.

It is why the S class coupe had existed.

Same thing with the coupe SUVs, rather crossovers. Everyone is buying crossover/SUVs? You don't need that utility? You have at max 2 passengers? How about thicker tyres? How about bigger wheels and low profile tyres? How about sloping the roofline so that the bootspace is useless? How about a body shape that makes 360° camera a necessity than a convenience feature?
Voila. Coupeish crossovers for one to stand out.

Originally Posted by TechnoBloop

I like how the Chinese try to design their cars but everytime it ends up looking like a Bentley-Rolls Royce ripoff! xD

Well. They want ornate bling. Rolls Royce has perfected the pantheon grille, with the result being that Rolls can carry it, while others end up being blingy. So when the Chinese start to design an ornately blingy vehicle, they end up with Rolls Royce copies.

[Asish_VK]

I was about to say Maruti Suzuki Spresso for india. But then I remembered it's an SUV.

[the_real_slager]

A car I see often here in Belgium is the Renault Arkana. For me, it looks like a poor man's X4, which itself is a weirdly disproportionate car in my opinion.



I could somehow digest the F16 X6 in M sport trim in some shades but not X4 and the likes.

Regards,
Kiron

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by the_real_slager

I could somehow digest the F16 X6 in M sport trim in some shades but not X4 and the likes.

Mostly to do with the size. A mistake that most manufacturers make is trying to downsize their full size vehicle design language into smaller cars, with them looking disproportionate.

A good example would be the present Aura and Creta. Compared to their bigger beautiful Hyundai/Genesis models, whose design language they tried to downsize to the smaller models with disastrous results.

[Zanskar]

I believe S Cross in India makes a good case for itself being a well proportioned Crossover. Driving dynamics of a hatchback with GC of a SUV.
The first generation looked good too! Abroad it even comes with Suzuki’s All Grip tech.