![]() ![]() These vehicles drive and perform very much like traditional cars, but provide more passenger and cargo space with a relatively small tradeoff in fuel economy and cost. Over the last two decades consumers have moved from conventional sedans and boxy SUVs to station wagons and hatchbacks with sexier curves and better marketing. However, this narrative is false, as the majority of “light truck” sales have actually been smaller crossovers, while pickup trucks and traditional SUVs each made up less than 20% of “light truck” sales in 2018. What’s more, carmakers are encouraging this point-of-view, as they profit from the sale of larger vehicles. Over the past few years, this misconception has led to a trend of news stories concluding that consumers only want large SUVs and pickup trucks. This shift to crossovers, however, is often masked by the tendency to combine all pickup truck, SUV, and crossover sales into one category called “light trucks.” This lumping together of car-like crossovers with pickups and SUVs leads to a misunderstanding of consumer preferences. The average crossover gets almost 26 mpg, with the most popular versions achieving car-like fuel economy, while the average SUV gets around 19 mpg, only 0.5 mpg better than the average pickup truck. Another big difference between the two is fuel economy. This contrasts with true SUVs which have more robust off-road capabilities and are frequently built on pickup truck frames. ![]() For example, the popular Toyota RAV4 is built on the same platform as the Camry and Corolla sedans. Most of these vehicles are also built on car platforms. Industry news and analysis firm Wards defines a crossover as “Typically wagon body style with unibody construction, front or all-wheel drive and passenger vehicle qualities being the dominant characteristic with limited off-road capability.” In other words, crossovers are beefed-up station wagons and hatchbacks, sometimes designed to look like an SUV, but that drive and handle more like a car, and aren’t really designed for true off-road capabilities. Shift in Light Vehicle Market Share by Vehicle Class (Data Source: Wards Intelligence)Įven if you’re not familiar with the term ‘crossover,’ you’re certainly familiar with what they look like. To give these uggos a shot at fairness, then, we've arranged them in unbiased, alphabetical order.Figure 1. Nearly 20 years later, the misshapen crossover, with its narrow hips and insectilian face, remains the butt of jokes and the scapegoat for the death of the Pontiac brand.īut is the Aztek really the ugliest SUV ever? Here we've gathered a list of 20 others that have a shot at the title many also count among the greatest automotive flops of all time. Pretty much everyone is (or should be) in agreement that Pontiac's Aztek, produced from 2001-2005, is the most repulsive of the breed. ![]() It would be many decades after the world was put on wheels for SUVs to appear, though not long after that ugliness caught up with that vehicle format, too. But you’ve got to start somewhere (we're talking, of course, about ugly vehicles, not cars in general). His 1885 Benz Patent-Motorwagen wasn't exactly a looker, as it resembled a bicycle-tired kitchen chair. Not only did Karl Benz invent the car, he invented the ugly car in the same effort.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |