Are SUVs The End of the World For Car Enthusiasts?? #blogpost

Like it or not Crossovers are more popular than ever, in fact SUV is the fastest growing car segment right now. So no surprise every major car manufacturer wants to get a piece of it. Now here is where I want to make my point, since SUVs are so popular car makers invest more money on these than they do in other segments and what we get is a market crowd of boring crossovers.

As Petrol Heads Should We Be Worried??

We love Hot Hatches, affordable sport cars and powerful coupes, right? But these ain’t the most profitable products for automakers unlike SUVs. Take Mitsubishi for example they axed the Lancer in order to introduce a range of SUVs with the EVO badge, Rumor has it that Nissan will turn the next generation Z into a crossover, Peugeot killed the RCZ last year and Porsche’s best selling car isn’t the 911, is the Macan SUV. Now can you see where I’m going?

Will SUV replace Sport Cars??

Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit but only time will tell, You see Mitsubishi can give us an ultra fuel efficient hybrid SUV with 600hp but it won’t never be the same without the Lancer, at least for me. Since car industry is a massive business carmakers find ways to make more money and SUVs are the answer; so they may not replace sports cars directly but because of profitability stuff this segment is shrinking.

Should We Hate SUV??

Not at all, at the end of the day they still cars and there are several reasons people buy them instead of compact cars or sedans. Now the question is: As a car guy can we like SUVs? I’d like to talk about 2 important aspects for us: Style and Performance.

Style

We love to modify our cars, not only the engine but the exterior too; and since these cars are so popular they must look good in order to attract people right?

Well let’s leave the Aztek apart and look at the CX5 and the Tucson for example;
These two are my favourites SUVs, Why? Because they don’t look boring or dull like a family car. They look good and are stylish I’d dare to say they even look sporty.

Performance

Even more important than looks is performance, now a days there are many “Performance focused” SUVs on the market. And that’s good because car makers still think of us; car enthusiasts.
We have for all tastes: Hot SUV: Nissan Juke Nismo RS (215 HP), Kia Sportage SX (260 HP) or Super SUV; Land Rover Range Rover Sport (550 HP), Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT (475HP).
They may have some downsides against proper sports cars thou (like weight, ride height, center of gravity) but if you choose wisely they are fun to drive too.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t hate SUVs what I don’t like is the way the car manufacturers are going in order to sell more cars, They are forgetting about making cars with personality and character, cars which were not designed to satisfy commuters but to put a smile on car enthusiasts.

Now guys I’d like to know what’s your opinion about it.