New Renault Espace Shows the Industry Needs a New Verb: to SUVfy

After the Mitsubishi Eclipse got back to business as an SUV, it was Ford’s turn to do that with the Puma, another coupe sold in Europe by the end of the 1990s. It is just a pity that the American automaker did not create its crossover replacement with rear door sill rubbers that stayed in place, but that's another story. More recently, Ford said it would bring back the Capri. If you are not familiar with that nameplate, just try to guess what it was: I bet you will get it right. Yes, the Capri was a coupe, also sold in the Old Continent – for almost four decades. The Espace is the first “SUVfication” case I remember that does not involve that body type.

It is not difficult to understand why: customer preferences and a need to cover as many market segments as possible. SUVs and crossovers became the customers' preferred body type. People tend to attribute that to the impression that SUVs are safer. Some others say it is just because they make their drivers look more adventurous. In my years covering that trend, I came up with a better explanation that I am yet to confirm, but that makes much more sense than these shallow justifications.

People’s lifespan keeps getting higher and higher, which means we have more and more really older people still driving around. Dick Van Dyke crashed his Lexus LS500 on March 15. He is 97 years old and 6’2” (1.85 meters). That is also an example of another physical characteristic of modern-day drivers that may lead them to prefer SUVs and crossovers: human beings have never been as tall as they are today. One of my biggest automotive frustrations was not fitting a classic Mini. It would be impossible for me to drive one.

That said, SUVs are taller, with higher seating positions. That makes them easier to enter and leave: you don’t have to make contortionism to get behind the steering wheel and do not have to lower your head to avoid bumping it into the roof’s edge. If you have small children, they are roomier and easier for you to put your kids on a child seat. In other words, buyers prefer to ride in SUVs now because they are more comfortable and practical than the body styles we got used to.

There’s another factor for coupes to be a species on the verge of extinction: speed control. Any vehicle that sells performance comes with severe restrictions on where it can display all its power. SUVs have a massive frontal area, high centers of mass, and are always heavier than other vehicles with similar lengths. That all makes them awful for fast curves, moose tests, and any handling test – even if automakers have improved them a lot since they became mainstream.

I have extracted these conclusions from my own vehicle use. SUVs and crossovers suited my family and me better. I have interviewed several market specialists, and none of them corroborated that these factors play a role in the “SUVfication” process. Either nobody knew how to measure or verify more rational reasons for the SUV trend, or nobody really cared to do so. They may be happy with the official explanation that buyers just want vehicles that make them look better or more successful, and that’s it.

Whatever the reason is, the truth is that automakers will “SUVfy” many more vehicles because they are what people want to buy. Considering how much car companies have already spent with trademarks, they must see no sense in just renovating these classic names without putting them to use. The Hispano Suiza dispute shows that pretty well.

If an iconic name falls into the public domain, anyone may try to register it and use it with a product that has nothing to do with the original one. If third parties can do that, why wouldn’t an automaker do the same? It is a trademark recycling that makes a lot of sense. On top of that, it is not easy to find a suitable name for a new vehicle. Car companies may spend a few million dollars in the process. Why not just use one of the names their legacies grant them?

The next vehicles to be “SUVfied” will be sedans. Toyota has already discontinued the Camry in Japan, and it will eventually do that in other markets as well. In the U.S., it already has the RAV4 as a best-seller, but it may also create a Camry Cross. It has already “crossoverfied” the Crown, which used to be a sedan. Stellantis did the same with the 408 and the C5, now sold as the C5 X. On second thought, perhaps we need two new verbs for turning old body types into something people are willing to buy.