SUV or Sports Utility Vehicle is one of the most lucrative segments of cars in India and the sole purpose of manufacturers to bring SUV was to provide its customers with a product which encompasses in itself both the on-road as well as the off-road capability.

Brief History

The SUVs are considered to be descendants of commercial or military vehicles like Jeep or Land Rover. The first Sports Utility Vehicle in the true sense was known under the name Jeep Cherokee (XJ), which was sold out to urban families as a substitute for a traditional car.

Significance

Though, there are a number of definitions for SUVs, but in general SUV term is defined as "a large vehicle that is designed to be used on rough surfaces, but that is often used on city roads or highways", while the acronym is used to describe "anything with available all-wheel drive and raised ground clearance."

Basic Design and Feature

Most SUV cars are designed with an engine compartment, a combined passenger and cargo compartment, and no dedicated trunk such as in a station wagon body. Most mid-size and full-size SUVs have three rows of seats with a cargo area directly behind the last row of seats. Cargo barriers are often fitted to the cargo area to protect the vehicle occupants from injury from unsecured cargo in the event of a sudden collision.

SUVs are known for high ground clearance, upright, boxy body, and high H-point and almost every SUV these days come with Electronic Stability Program (ESP) as a standard feature that restrain acceleration and automatically applies anti-lock brakes in case the driver loses control.

Classification of SUV's

SUV cars in India and around the globe are broadly classified into four categories, viz.

Compact

Full-Sized

Premium

Luxury

Each model type as a unit has a certain set of features mentioned below:

Compact: An SUV that is built to seat only 5 occupants, does not offer much cargo space and boasts of decent fuel efficiency are placed in the compact SUV segment. The length of a compact SUV, which is priced around Rs. 5-7 lacs, is less than 4 meters, thus making it similar to an oversized hatchback with slight off-roading capabilities.

Full-Sized: Full-sized SUVs measure over 4 meters in length and have a seating capacity of 7-8 passengers. The vehicles available in this segment are largely characterized by a host of safety features, tremendous space and comfort levels of a mid-sized sedan and fall in the price range of 8-13 lacs.

Premium: These are robust and have the capacity to handle rough driving conditions. Such vehicles are usually priced approximately Rs. 14-21 lacs and boast of a mix of unmatched off-roading capabilities and excellent passenger comfort and convenience features.

Luxury: Car price of these vehicles is higher than Rs. 22 lacs in India. The entry level models in this segment have turned around the fortunes of car makers in the country as these allow buyers to associate themselves with a renowned brand name and tackle rough terrains in the lap of luxury.

Manufacturers of SUVs in India

SUVs became popular in the United States, Canada, India and Australia in the era of 1990s and early-2000s. Buyers were drawn towards SUVs, large cabins, higher ride height, safety features, which actually led manufacturers to think of replacing their traditional models with an SUV.

Some of the most popular SUV cars of all time includes Land Rover, Hummer, and the Nissan Pathfinder. Keeping India as base SAGMart. has enlisted some of the Best SUV cars in India:

Though SUV car price gets a considerable hike every now and then, but it still has not dampened the efforts of auto-manufacturers as they are aware of the fact that its popularity would surely increase in the years to come by with the evolution of the automobile industry. Some of the upcoming SUV cars in India scheduled to launch by the end of 2015 or in 2016 include:

Chevrolet Trax

Honda Vezel

Toyota Rush

Volkswagen Taigun

Users can visit the SAGMart portal to get the On-Road Price of all the major cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, NCR etc.

Leading Manufacturers of SUVs in India include names of: