ANN ARBOR, Mich.

A SUCCESS since its introduction in 1997, the Honda CR-V was the best-selling car-based compact utility vehicle in nine of the last 15 years, including five of the last six. If natural disasters in Asia had not disrupted production last year — about 20 percent of CR-Vs were imported and even the assembly plant in East Liberty, Ohio, was affected by parts shortages — it might well have been No. 1 again.

But Honda may find it tougher to continue its run of successes with this fourth-generation model. Since gas prices moved up five years ago, compact crossovers have become the best-selling utility vehicles in the country, attracting more, and better, competition. This year, Ford will introduce a new Escape, Toyota will unveil a new RAV4 and Nissan will bring out a new Rogue — not to mention the arrival of new competitors like the Mazda CX-5.

Honda is meeting this new competition with a carefully graduated step forward rather than a shoot-for-the-moon upgrade. Resisting the trend toward bigger and heavier, Honda has made the 2012 CR-V about an inch shorter in length and an inch lower than its predecessor, as well as about 50 pounds lighter. The lower profile, in combination with a more wind-cheating shape, cuts aerodynamic drag by about 10 percent. Both the lighter weight and better aerodynamics improve fuel efficiency, a top priority in this class.

But Honda has avoided significant powertrain improvements, declining to introduce direct fuel injection, downsize the engine or add a turbocharger. Instead, the CR-V uses an improved version of the existing 2.4-liter 4-cylinder with reduced friction and 5 more horsepower, for a total of 185.