The term "sport utility vehicle" is relatively young, but the actual vehicles have been around much longer. How long? That's a good question. The credentials of possible claimants to the title of first SUV follow, along with some SUV history highlights and a look at how this vehicle style is still evolving today.
1.Chevy Suburban Carryall. The "depot hacks" that carried people and baggage from train stations early last century soon gave birth to station wagons, panel trucks and canopy expresses. The 1935 Chevy Suburban Carryall, which came from the latter group and which was the first model of its kind the public could buy, had an all-steel passenger body on a truck chassis. Dodge, Plymouth and Studebaker all offered similar vehicles in the 1930s, also called Suburbans, because the name was then a generic term. (GM didn't trademark "Suburban" until 1988.)
2.Jeep CJ-2A. Many people knowledgeable about autos see the World War II Willys Jeep and the first civilian model, the 1946 CJ-2A, as the first SUVs because four-wheel drive allowed them to go off-road at will.
3.Dodge Power Wagon, 1948 Land Rover, 1949 4WD Jeep wagon. If the title of first SUV wasn't settled by the end of World War II, these vehicles can make a case to wear the crown.
From the 1950s into the '70s, SUVs filled a niche in the automotive marketplace. Models from this era included International Harvester's Travelall and Scout, the Ford Bronco, which came out in 1966, and the Chevy Blazer and Jimmy (both launched in 1969). Chrysler says that the 1962 Jeep Wagoneer, with power steering and more car-like features, created the "premium" SUV segment and started America's love affair with the whole vehicle type.
The Jeep Cherokee (1974), the Wagoneer's successor, had been around a while when that love affair really intensified in the 1980s and the SUV acronym first appeared. Two other models that played key roles in SUV history, earning spots among the segment's "royalty," were the Ford Explorer and the Subaru Legacy Outback. Explorer, which debuted in 1990, cemented the popularity of the 4-door SUV. Outback was arguably the first "crossover," combining modest off-road capability with car-like handling because underneath that's what it was - a car.
When gas was cheaper and the SUV boom was at its height, brands known only for cars - think Cadillac, Buick, Lincoln, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche - were almost forced to develop their own sport utilities. Today, high gas prices or not, there are scores of SUV models out there, from small to midsize to huge. They include luxury models and gas/electric hybrids.
The latest SUV entrants - if, in fact, they are SUVs - include the boxy aimed-at-the-youth-market sport wagons. Also known as "tall wagons," these hatchbacks include the Scion xB, Honda Element, Chevy HHR and the new Ford Flex.
Are these new vehicles really SUVs? Well, if crossovers, which are really cars under the skin, get grouped with SUVs, then why not the boxy hatchbacks? Then again, now that crossovers seem to be morphing into their own segment, maybe SUVs will revert to their beginnings and just be, once again, truck-based vehicles capable of some serious off-roading.