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The day the letters ‘SUV’ were invented, it’s been said, was a dark one for the off-road world. It means different things in different markets (in America, where the phrase was almost certainly coined, things like the Hummer H1 and Jeep Wrangler are seen as Sport Utility Vehicles), but here in Britain those three letters tend to be interpreted as describing something that’s the opposite of the real thing. A soft-roader, in other words.

You can argue until the cows come home about which vehicles are and aren’t the real thing. That’s not the point, though.

The point is that a few years ago, it seemed as if SUVs were on the verge of taking over completely. They’ve become a phenomenon since the first soft-roaders appeared in the mid-90s, coming from nowhere to grab a huge part of the new car market. Traditional hatchbacks, saloons and estates have suffered enormously as a result. People carriers collapsed as quickly as they rose; most have either gone completely or reinvented themselves as SUV lookalikes. And of course, for every new SUV that’s come on to the market over the last 25 years, that’s one less proper offroad vehicle in the world.

But just recently, there have been more and more signs that people are turning back towards the real thing. Or if not the real thing, then at least vehicles that aren’t just all fur coat and no knickers.

I’ve spoken before about the recently coined cliché of the RUV (or RSUV); a 4x4 that can actually do it off-road without getting stuck in a puddle or breaking some sort of expensive component the moment a wheel leaves the ground. Joe Public is tired of cars that can’t walk the walk and now they want to be seen in vehicles with credibility. And with nice seats, big alloys, lots of multimedia etc, but the message is that no longer is it enough to chuck a load of spec in a car whose styling is, to put it bluntly, a sham.

The new Defender is commonly held up as an example of this new breed. So too is the latest Ford Bronco. There’s been talk of Audi building a vehicle to compete in this sector of the market, and if you look at the badge on the front of an Auto-Union Munga you’ll see that the brand does actually have some previous in this area.

Volkswagen, too, is reportedly getting ready to launch a rugged off-roader in 2025, in the shape of an all-electric machine with similar proportions to the old-shape 90. Even SsangYong has teased a future model with a sketch of something that looks like a Wrangler on steroids. And when you look at the new Kia EV9, its styling is as butch as they come.

The message is clear. People have had enough of pretty, dainty crossovers and SUVs. They want authenticity. They want vehicles that look right and, of equal importance, that are right. The new 4x4 market might not be going back to the days of things like the Auverland and Rocsta (more’s the pity), but it’s heading towards the modern equivalent of that. Electrification has opened up new ways of driving all four wheels, and the big trend in the car market now is towards vehicles which make the most of that to get places previous generations of soft-roader could only dream of.

It’s not electric, yet, but the new Ford Ranger is a case in point. We’ve had our first experience of the Raptor model in this issue, and a remarkable off-roader it is (now with a 3.0-litre engine and locking front and rear diffs, thank you very much), and Ford has also just announced a pair of hardcore variants which bridge the gap between this halo model and the rest of the range. The Tremor and Wildtrak X have lifted long-travel suspension, a wider track, rear lockers and heavy-duty steering, as well as additional high-tech off-road aids; in the case of the former, it’s based on the low to mid-range XLT, making it ideal for people to whom off-road ability matters more than image and cool toys, and unlike the Raptor both of them are classed as commercial vehicles so you can wave cheerily to the taxman while you head off to hit the trails.

I hope the new breed of Rugged Utility Vehicle will encourage more people to do just that. It does feel as if the 4x4 market is in its healthiest state for a long time.

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