The crossover is dying, the hatchback and station wagon will rule all

"bhtooefr" (bhtooefr) 01/29/2018 at 20:07 • Filed to: crossovers, mercedes-benz, buick, regal, gla, lexus, suv, Hatchback, Wagon, cuv

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Lexus LF-1 Limitless Concept

I know what you’re going to say - I’m insane for saying this. After all, crossovers are a massively booming market, displacing the midsize sedan in America, and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (what we Americans would call the minivan) in Europe.

However, I suspect that this trend won’t last in reality. Efficiency regulations will require lower frontal area, for one, and I think there’s still a lot of people that want a car - note that in the US, a lot of crossover sales are a result of the wagon and hatchback’s death, and the sedan’s lack of versatility. It might, however, last on paper - we might all be buying “crossovers”.

What even is a crossover?

So, rather than saying “I know it when I see it”, let’s talk about what defines a “car” versus a “crossover”.

I’d like to argue that if your vehicle is under 60 inches tall, it’s a car, end of story, no debate. The Audi A4 allroad at 58.8", the Volkswagen Golf Alltrack at 59.6", and the Buick Regal TourX at 58.4" are all cars by this definition.

I’d also argue that if your vehicle is over 65 inches tall, it’s a crossover (if you’re debating whether it’s a car or a crossover, anyway). The Toyota RAV4 at 65.5" tall, the Nissan Rogue at 68.0"-68.5" tall, and the Honda CR-V at 66.1-66.5" tall are all crossovers by this definition - I’d say these are fairly safe. (Interestingly, the Subaru Outback, at 66.1", is actually pretty firmly a crossover now, despite being based very closely on the Legacy sedan.)

Can we agree on those definitions? If so...

This leaves a no-man’s-land between 60 and 65 inches. Very few true cars enter this space (and they tend to be extreme luxury - the Rolls-Royce Phantom comes to mind), but the compact crossovers tend to inhabit this space (C-HR at 61.6", HR-V at 63.2", CX-3 at 60.7-60.9", Juke at 61.8"), and blur the lines between hatchbacks and crossovers (especially the C-HR and Juke).

So, let’s talk about how the crossover is actually dying, in three cars.

Lexus LF-1 Limitless Concept

The Lexus LF-1 Limitless Concept, pictured above, is 63.2" tall. It’s what Lexus is positioning as their flagship crossover - ultimately, this moves into the position above the (67.7" tall, definitely a crossover) Lexus RX. It’s definitely tall compared to a car... but it’s in the no-man’s-land.

Not only that, but the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! even talks about station wagons (although I think it’s just on the wrong side of being a wagon by the Torchinsky rule - I’m not sure if I can count that C-pillar window as a cargo area window, and the hatch is too sloped).

I suspect that this is going to be part of a trend away from crossovers, really - or at least into the no-man’s-land of not-quite-crossovers, not-quite-cars. Maybe you could call them crossover crossover utility vehicles - just like CUVs were crossovers between SUVs and cars, CCUVs are crossovers between CUVs and cars.

Buick Regal TourX

I totally stole Jalopnik’s header image

Note that I listed this one up in the cars earlier - I mean, it’s under 60" tall. However, I listed this because of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! marketing strategy that Buick’s using, really - they want to use some crossover styling tropes to convince people that their car is a crossover, even if they also don’t really say “crossover” either.

Mercedes-Benz GLA 45 AMG

I’m not shitting you, Mercedes-Benz calls this a SUV. (Not even a crossover, they call it a full on SUV.)

Spoiler alert: this is not a SUV or CUV, it’s a hot hatch. It’s fifty eight frickin’ inches tall. For comparison, its closest competitor in terms of power, driveline, and weight, the Ford Focus RS, is exactly the same height, 58" tall. (Note that I could’ve used the 60" tall GLA 250, as well, but this one is more ridiculous.)

I’d like to argue that this car is singlehandedly the harbinger of the crossover’s death. The GLA-Class sells quite strongly despite simply being a Golf-class hatchback with more butch styling, and I suspect it may well be the future direction of the crossover class - basically, cars, but more aggressive.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > bhtooefr 01/29/2018 at 20:16

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Marketing! Nothing means anything! Your four-door crossover is a coupe because we say it is! Sporty! Words!

:sigh:

That said I looked up what the height of my SUV is: 76.4". What did I win?

bhtooefr > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 01/29/2018 at 20:18

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You win shitty fuel economy and a high center of gravity. (But also a shitload of ground clearance, I assume.)

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > bhtooefr 01/29/2018 at 20:23

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Less ground clearance than you’d expect, but still pretty good. They’re just tall cars. But yeah, the mileage is garbage and it takes premium.

Oh but my shortest car is 49.5"... so there is that!

Gerry197 > bhtooefr 01/29/2018 at 20:26

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They are practically as efficient as sedans of similar size. And what efficiency regulations will dictate frontal design, none I’ve heard of?

They are just tall riding wagons as mentioned, but NO ONE WILL DARE call them wagons in the US if they actually want to sell any of them. I think there is an article somewhere hear that mentions that very thing, manufactures will not call their wagons “wagons”.

The Crossover will live on forever, even if it’s just a slightly taller station wagon.

Tekamul > bhtooefr 01/29/2018 at 20:30

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As I was reading, I was wondering if you would cover the GLA. I saw one in traffic next to a Fit. The Fit was taller.

It is the harbinger of the future.

Spanfeller is a twat > bhtooefr 01/29/2018 at 20:46

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Hopefully once gas price is back up in the land of the free we will see a huge focus on low slung CUV that basically are liftbacks.
Need a liftback but have a dog? get a wagon.

gettingoldercarguy > bhtooefr 01/29/2018 at 20:47

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It’s going to go away when the children today grow up and want nothing to do with the cars their mom and dad drove, let alone their grandparents.

BahamaTodd > bhtooefr 01/29/2018 at 20:48

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My sister has a Vibe GT. I guess its in that weird area at 62" tall, but it has a normal car ride height.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Gerry197 01/29/2018 at 21:00

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I’ve taken to calling my car a mini-minivan. It has the shape of a minivan, it’s just shorter and has hinged rear doors. Crossovers are wagons for people that think wagons aren’t cool. They’re slowly converting people to accepting them even though they’re oblivious to it, just because they believe they’re not a wagon or hatch.

Oddly, fairly recently wagons and hatches were considered cool by most lesbians. The younger ones embraced hatches but outside the Outback and Forester the wagons lost their cool at some point. The Volvo and German wagons have pretty much fallen out of vogue (these were sort of next-level for those that really made it).

These shapes were expected to be dominant by now in a lot of future-looking fiction, too. Pretty much everything became a hatchback...

This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just silly that people are so hung up on what they call the classification of their amorphous vehicles with some creases added to give them a “shape” and differentiate them from other blobs of the exact same shape (just in different sizes)...

Gerry197 > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 01/29/2018 at 21:18

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Oh I agree with you, but it’s marketing and its what sells and don’t sell cars.

Wagons and Hatchbacks have only been “cool” for enthusiast. Your car buying masses don’t like that title for some reason.

So your tall riding hatchback will sell like gang busters if its marketed as a small crossover, but no one will touch it with a ten foot pole if its called a hatchback.

404 - User No Longer Available > bhtooefr 01/29/2018 at 21:43

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Liftback.

Under_Score > bhtooefr 01/29/2018 at 21:48

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Unless it’s a Suburban or something like that, most crossovers and SUV’s are pretty short to me. Some people need the higher ride height, though, like my parents. My dad’s xB is almost too low to the ground; he has to have the seat raised all the way up to make access decent.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > bhtooefr 01/29/2018 at 22:21

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They are all cars. One box, two box or three box.

Amoore100 > bhtooefr 01/29/2018 at 23:05

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I exist!

63.1 inches, of which 8.2 is ground clearance :D