Opinion: SUVs are bulky, high-riding wagons with big bums – can we stop pretending they're not?

01/06/2025 12:01 AM

I've noticed car design taking a backwards step in 2025. More SUVs than ever are now styled to look like coupes, featuring sloping rear rooflines and tapered behinds.

It's not a new trend – the first SUV to have shunned the traditional bulbous rear end was probably the BMW X6 in 2007 – but in 2025 it's now become the norm to stylise SUVs as such, rather than the exception.

Can we stop pretending that SUVs are more stylish than they are and simply go back to prioritising substance over style?  

Not only do they look weird and blur the defined category of what an SUV is meant to represent, but the vast majority of coupe SUVs are less practical than their traditional wagon-bodied counterparts.

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For example, take the Mercedes-Benz GLC SUV, which comes in both wagon and coupe-style bodies. The latter is more expensive and less spacious than the former, and by a sizeable margin too.

For starters, spec-for-spec it's just under $12,000 more expensive to opt for the GLC Coupe and you're getting 75 litres less in storage capacity inside the boot.

There's less room for passengers' heads in the second row and you're more likely to bump your noggin’ on the sloping door frame while getting inside.

Having coupe SUV spin-offs of regular SUVs is one issue. But some brands are shunning the practical wagon-shaped SUV designs altogether in favour of a sloping-back roof.

You've got the Polestar 4, Renault Arkana, Porsche Macan, Skoda Enyaq, Tesla Model Y, Cupra Tavascan, and the Audi Q4 e-tron (among others) that are all self-described mid-sized SUVs on paper.  However, they appear to be anything but when you see them in the metal.

You'll note that most of the cars mentioned there are electric, with designers gravitating towards a sloping roofline in an effort to make a car as aerodynamic as possible.

I've spoken to several car designers recently who suggested that the aerodynamic and engineering teams wouldn't have been comfortable with the total driving range if they had not created a coupe-style SUV.

And, I get it, electric vehicles need to go as far as possible in this early stage in order to eliminate the effects of range anxiety. But if going as far as possible is the goal, perhaps a large, bulky, and heavy SUV isn't the answer. There are undeniable practical downsides that come with that decision making.

In my mind, if you want to create an electric vehicle that'll go the distance, stop making SUVs.

Porsche has proved the engineering and packaging viability of the electric sedan with the Taycan and, better yet, I'm not even uncomfortable sitting in the second row of that thing – and I'm 194cm tall.

There are ways to create a practical, stylish, and aerodynamic car — by re-embracing the humble sedan and its low-slung, slippery silhouette.

Granted, sedans aren't the most practical of all body styles, but I've got a solution…

What if we were able to create a long-roof sedan with a hatchback rear end? That sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?

The post Opinion: SUVs are bulky, high-riding wagons with big bums – can we stop pretending they're not? appeared first on Drive.