Six SUV pioneers that blazed the trail for today

Sports Utility Vehicles, or SUVs. Love them or hate them, they’ve been one of the fastest-growing new car segments for years now. Covering everything from tiny supermini-based crossovers to the largest luxury off-roaders, this segment has gone from being small-time fare to one of the most popular in the market. In the meantime, they’ve displaced hatchbacks, saloons and estates as the stereotypical family car. But how exactly did the modern SUV come to be? We’ve leafed through the history books and found six vehicles that – at least in Europe – helped push the crossover into the mainstream. Matra Rancho. The Matra Rancho may look like a prototype for the original Land Rover Discovery, but it pre-dated the first Disco by over a decade, and it wasn’t nearly as hardcore. Matra Rancho (PA) In fact, the Rancho’s make-up reads like the specification of pretty much any modern crossover. Rugged styling, a car-derived platform, greater practicality than its hatchback sibling and an unusual name? All present and correct. However, the Rancho came out in 1977 – years before SUVs became viable as family transport. It was pretty popular on the continent, but their nature as a work vehicle and the unlovable nature of its quirky styling means not too many survive. Nissan Qashqai. The Qashqai wasn’t the first SUV, or even the first hatchback-based crossover, but it marked a step-change in manufacturer strategy. Nissan was the first brand to realise that the future of family transport lay in these jacked-up vehicles, and so it didn’t bother to replace its Almera when it reached the end of its life – concentrating solely on the Qashqai. Nissan Qashqai Mk1 (PA) It’s definitely a strategy that’s worked – the car has been sold in its thousands since its launch in 2007, and remains one of Europe’s best-sellers. The current second-generation model is now reaching the end of its life, with an all-new replacement set to make its debut in the next year or so. The Qashqai has also been also an enormous success story for the UK. It was designed at Nissan’s European Design Centre in London, developed at Nissan’s European Technical Centre in Bedford and is built at Nissan’s giant production facility in Sunderland. More Nissan news, reviews, features and offers 2019 Nissan Qashqai test drive Toyota RAV4. In 1994, Toyota released the RAV4, and with it came the first real acknowledgement by car manufacturers that their rugged off-roaders were mainly bought by families rather than farmers. Toyota RAV4 Mk1 (PA) The name RAV4 stands for “Recreational Activity Vehicle with 4WD”, showing that this car was better suited to a camping holiday than tackling the deepest, darkest wilderness. By giving buyers what they wanted – chunky styling, a modicum of off-road ability and raised ground clearance, but without the associated lack of finesse on the tarmac – Toyota created a wildly popular SUV that’s still a global best-seller. The latest RAV4 is the fifth generation version, and will be arriving in the UK in a matter of weeks. More Toyota news, reviews, features and offers 2019 Toyota RAV4 review Range Rover. Land Rover was known only for one model until the release of the Range Rover – it was rugged and tough, but a nightmare as soon as it got onto a paved road. The Range Rover was different. It added luxury features, coil springs and a sense of imperious superiority for everybody who drove one, although the original model still sported a hose-down interior. Range Rover Mk1 (PA) The Range Rover has become significantly more luxurious as time has gone on, and now ranks alongside some of the world’s finest luxury saloons for comfort while retaining its off-road ability. Not that you’ll see many of the latest model venturing further off-road than a muddy garden centre car park. More Land Rover news, reviews, features and offers 2019 Range Rover plug-in hybrid test drive Volvo XC90. Big families spent the 1990s gravitating towards MPVs, but these family buses weren’t exactly stylish. In fact, they rather represented a resigned acceptance that any sense of fun or adventure was long gone. Volvo hit the jackpot in 2003 with the release of the XC90, which offered the seven-seat versatility of a people carrier with the go-anywhere ambition of an SUV – even if that ambition was seldom ever realised. Even Jeremy Clarkson is said to have owned three of the original models, so enamoured was he with its practicality and comfort. Volvo XC90 Mk 1 (PA) The XC90 also concentrated heavily on safety, which has resulted in it achieving rather a unique record. In 2018, the UK’s independent safety experts Thatcham Research announced that not one single person in the UK has died in an XC90 since its 2003 launch. That’s a big deal for a kid-carrier that has sold more than 70,000 units in this country, and one that’s cemented the XC90 as a popular choice for the safety-conscious. More Volvo news, reviews, features and offers Volvo XC90 T8 plug-in hybrid review Porsche Cayenne. Porsche was the first sports car manufacturer to acknowledge the SUV-shaped elephant in the room. It realised that by releasing a Porsche SUV, the resulting profits could be used to further development for its iconic sports car line. Porsche Cayenne Mk 1 (PA) The negative publicity that surrounded the Cayenne’s launch was enormous, but was quickly drowned out by a tidal wave of sales. In only a few years, Porsche had sold more Cayennes than every 911 model ever built since 1963. That has left Porsche with two distinct lines of products – its SUVs pay the bills while its class-leading sports cars keep the brand’s image alive. Neither could exist as well as it does without the other, and it’s a sort of partnership that many brands have tried to emulate ever since. More Porsche news, reviews and features Original article by Ted Welford, additional reporting by Stuart Masson.