Sports Utility Vehicles

The origin of the SUV (Sports-Utility-Vehicles) can be traced back to the usage of military jeeps in the aftermath of the World War II period. On account of their off-road capabilities, the sport utility vehicles gradually became popular especially in the rural areas of US and Europe and big automobile majors sensed a growing business opportunity. Starting off with the Toyota Land Cruiser , Land Rover and Jeep Wagoneer, Chevrolet Blazer and International Harvester made their mark on the global automobile market as the SUV Cars. With sports-utility-vehicles gaining acceptance in towns, the market for SUV cars saw an increase in their demand.

Design and Aesthetics

In terms of design and aesthetics, the sport utility vehicles do vary but broadly could be described as non-commercial passenger vehicles built with a body on frame chassis as is seen in many trucks. Known popularly as the "off road vehicle" or "four wheel drive", the sport utility vehicles progressively have undergone transformation in design and components for light weight and fuel efficiency have been incorporated into the contemporary sports utility vehicles. No wonder thus that SUV cars are increasingly being used for recreational and sporting purposes too.

The Indian automobile market in the last few years too has undergone significant transformation. From a few outdated passenger car and truck models to boast of, the car market has grown big and offers a range of choices today. While the country is witness to all kinds of car, the sports utility vehicles too have made a mark in the Indian automobile scene. While Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra are the major domestic car makers with a range of SUV, Maruti as the leading Indian car maker was the one to start off with its Maruti Gypsy. Soon Tata Motors came up with its variants of Tata Sumo and Tata Safari while Mahindra & Mahindra launched Voyager, Bolero and Scorpio.

Toyota the global auto major from Japan came hard with its own SUV like Prado, Qualis and Innova. Hindustan Motors in association with its foreign partners launched Pajero, Pushpak and Trekker while the Korean auto giant Hyundai launched Terracan and Tuscon. In the context of continuously increasing demand for the sports-utility-vehicless in India, both the domestic and foreign car makers are putting their efforts in launching newer and varied form of SUV.

Outlander and Grandis from Hindustan Motors, Ingenio from M&M, Roomster from Skoda and Captiva from Chevrolet are some of the other sports-utility-vehicless that are in the pipeline to be launched into the Indian market soon.

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