What in the world is a crossover!

it means that it runs both biofuel and regular gas.

I believe delirium is thinking of “flex-fuel”. “Crossover” refers to the vehicles that are somewhere between an SUV and a sedan. In other words, they’re styled like an SUV, but they’re built on a car chassis and handle (and consume) more like a car.

A Crossover, or CUV (crossover utility vehicle) is simply yet another marketing term. It is used to describe a vehicle that effectively is a car but has some qualities and design features of an SUV. Don’t let the similar names fool you though CUVs are not designed for off-road driving for the most part.

It’s like a pink truck…feminine on the outside, masculine on the inside.

Like @osullivanbr said. And from Wikipedia :

A Crossover, or CUV (crossover utility vehicle) is a marketing term for a vehicle that derives from a car while borrowing features from an SUV.

The crossover combines, in highly variable degrees, the design features such as tall interior packaging, high H-point seating, high ground-clearance, or all-wheel-drive capability of the SUV — with design features from an automobile platform such as car-like handling, ride, or economy. A crossover also uses a car’s unibody or monocoque construction while forgoing the body on frame construction in use on most SUVs. CUV’s typically are designed for only light off-road capability, if at all.

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The idea is to distinguish between truck-framed SUV’s, like the Hummer H2, Nissan Xterra, Jeep Commander, Chevy Suburban, Porsche Cayenne, etc. and the car-framed vehicles like Ford’s new Flex, Honda CRV, Lexus RX330, BMW X3 etc.

Truck-framed vehicles are sturdier to handle the rigors of off-road driving. However, most vehicles (truck, SUV, whatever) spend more than 95% of their time on the road. Many never leave pavement ever. So a crossover is a better fit for most folks’ needs, even though they may want additional capability, just in case.

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P.S. Not sure if the Porsche would really qualify as having a truck chassis. However, it intended to serve as a true off-road vehicle with significant capabilities.

It’s an SUV on a car platform; generally lower to the ground and smaller but still SUV-ish.

that’s what I get for misinterpreting his tags.

Heh, not your fault Ford’s marketing department sucketh, @del. The Ford Flex is not capable of running on ethanol (a.k.a. flex fuel)... and in today’s age alternative fuel-aware consumers, that is a pretty big naming screwup.

Woah, false advertising much?!
That’s downright absurd. I had no idea!

BTW, crossovers are nothing new. In the ‘70s, they were called station wagons.

In 21st century America, I don’t think we’ve yet come full circle on the crossover pickup truck, though.