The crossover finds its sweet spot in New England
Walk around the huge show floor at the New England Auto Show, with displays from 37 manufacturers, and it starts to seem like every carmaker in the world has converged on the same vehicle.
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Subarus have enjoyed outsized popularity in New England for a long time. And since the Outback is one of the Japanese carmaker’s best-selling models, you’ve probably been passing them on the road for years.
But if you haven’t been paying close attention recently, you might not recognize the Outback anymore. Thinking of a low, oblong rectangle attached to a rounded wedge of a nose? You know, a station wagon? Not quite.
Since a 2014 redesign, the Outback has been higher, particularly in the back, and sportier. If you didn’t know better, you might call it an SUV.
I’d call it a crossover – that hard-to-define vehicle somewhere between a sedan, a station wagon and a small SUV that has been fueling the resurgence in car sales lately. And if the New England Auto Show is any indication, the crossover is in our region to stay.
A 2002-2003 Subaru Outback.
A 2016 Subaru Outback.
Walk around the huge show floor, with displays from 37 manufacturers, and it starts to seem like every carmaker in the world has converged on the same vehicle.
The 2016 Toyota RAV4, Subaru Outback, Ford Escape and Jeep Cherokee all have prices starting in the mid-$20,000 range and topping out in the low-$30,000 range. Each car’s base engine gets between 176 and 184 horsepower. And each offers about 30 mpg on the highway. They’re all sporty, stylish and roomy.
Slightly down market there’s another convergence. The 2016 Fiat 500X, Honda HR-V, Mazda CX-3 and Chevrolet Trax all start between $19,200 and $20,300. Three of them have right around 140 horsepower. (The Fiat gets 160 hp.) And all four get about 34 mpg highway.
In many cases, even the marketing approaches have converged – and squarely on the target of young, urban New Englanders it seems.
Story continues after gallery.
See the crossovers, SUVs and trucks that stood out at the N.E. Auto Show:
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Promotional materials for Chevy, Fiat, Ford and Mazda primarily show their crossovers in the city – often in from of an obviously hip restaurant where a group of happy millennials is planning a weekend getaway. A second photo likely shows the aforementioned millennials on said getaway.
Of course, the ads never show the middle of a brutal Boston winter, but frequent emphasis on safety and all-wheel drive capabilities makes it clear that these crossovers could survive the snow better than most sedans.
Perhaps the best indication that carmakers are betting big on the future of crossovers is their convergence with another powerful trend: the shift to hybrid and electric cars.
The Subaru Crosstrek has had a hybrid version since 2014, and this year Toyota added a RAV4 hybrid to its lineup. Volvo decided to choose its much-anticipated 2016 XC90 redesign (a somewhat more expensive crossover) as its first hybrid in the American market. And even Porsche is in on the game with its Cayenne S E-Hybrid (a much more expensive crossover).
“The current driver wants more,’’ said Toyota product training specialist Cynthia Arellano, noting that the hybrid RAV4 combines low price, high fuel efficiency and solid performance.
“Being a millennial, it also pulls to my heart strings wanting to do better for the environment,’’ she added.
This content was written and produced by the editorial staff of Boston.com with no participation from the presenting sponsor.
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