Sport Utility Vehicle Overview

The origin of the sports utility vehicles (SUVs) 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 SUVs 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 sports utility vehicles. With SUVs gaining acceptance in towns,an overview of sports utility vehicles indicate an increase in their demand becoming a global phenomenon.

In terms of design and aesthetics, the sports 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 SUVs 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 SUVs 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 From a few outdated passenger car and truck models to boast of, the car market has grown big and offers a range of choices today.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 sports utility vehicles, 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 SUVs 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 SUVs in India, both the domestic and foreign car makers are putting their efforts in launching newer and varied form of SUVs.

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

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