Akademik

(SEE.yoo.vee)

n.

A vehicle that resembles an SUV, but is built on a car chassis instead of a truck chassis, and so is smaller and more fuel efficient than an SUV, while still offering more room and usually better traction than a car. —adj. [From crossover utility vehicle.]

Sales of crossover utility vehicles, or CUVs, are higher than SUV sales for the first time ever.

Two distinct trends have helped spur crossover growth: traditional SUV buyers looking for smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicles and car buyers seeking more spacious and flexible interiors with the confidence of All Wheel Drive.

CUVs look like SUVs, but they are built on a car platform. The difference in production gives them the ride and handling of a car with the functionality of an SUV. SUVs are built on a truck platform.

So far this year, CUV sales are up 9 percent, while SUV sales are down 16 percent. By the end of the decade, CUVs are expected to be a contender for the largest category of vehicles in the U.S.

—"Crossover Utility Vehicles Poised to Become Largest Automotive Segment," Market Wire, October 16, 2006

Ford says the Edge is the most important launch of any vehicle all year, and if you take a careful look you can see why. The Edge is a crossover utility vehicle, or CUV, which means that it wants to cross back over the line that separates cars from trucklike SUVs, built on truck platforms and given to ride much like a truck. CUVs, the automakers say, are essentially more carlike than trucklike.

—Michael Taylor, "Ford's not-so-edgy edge," The San Francisco Chronicle, October 29, 2006

SUV sales have slowed in the second half of the year, while sales of crossover utility vehicles (CUVs) have soared, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association. ...

Despite these relative long-term declines, "sales of more fuel-efficient CUVs, such as the new Ford Escape, Acura MDX and the Chrysler PT Cruiser have helped maintain the industry's record pace," Taylor said. CUV sales rose 118 percent during the first 10 months of 2000 and 121 percent during the last three months ending October 31, compared to the same period last year.

—"SUV Sales Moderate in the Third Quarter; Crossover Vehicles Soar," PR Newswire, November 9, 2000