Cross over models are they really practical?

Cross over models seem to be the popular among car makers these days with Mercedes, BMW and several others introducing their new cross over models. The trend started with BMW with the first generation X6. The car was an odd ball design that didn't quite seem practical in my opinion. Unlike a traditional SUV where the real trunk has a boxy design which is convenient to load luggage or cargo but the design of the SUV is not very sporty looking. Enter the X6 which had a swooping rear roof line and made the car look more sporty and coupe like but at the expense of rear trunk space.

The rear trunk space of the X6 was easily 30% smaller than the X5 and couple that with the swooping roof line it meant that loading tall items a real challenge. Mercedes then thought that they wanted to join the party and introduced their GLC couple and GLE coupe models. Both are similar in look but only difference is the size of the car. Both had swooping roof lines which meant that the rear trunk space would be compromised to some degree.

The question now comes: are the cross overs really practical? I find that the Mercedes GLC and GLE coupes are very odd looking and same goes for the X6. These cars are neither sporty to look like a sports car and it is not practical enough to be as good as a SUV. It is kind of caught in the middle. It is not the best of both worlds, in fact it is a failure to be either one. Some people like it and prefer these cross overs to SUVs because the SUVs are boxy looking and the cross overs have a sleeker shape. The cross overs do offer higher ground clearance compared to normal cars but most of them don't have really good off road ability nor will they be taken off road.

It is unlikely that these car makers will stop making cross overs as one of the best selling models are the SUVs or cars with higher ground clearance. This trend is so strong that Ford have stopped making traditional sedans and focused only on SUVs, trucks and the Mustang. I wonder if any other car maker will follow Ford's footsteps but at the moment it seems unlikely. Toyota, VW, Honda, Nissan and Renault have enough sales volume from normal sedans to justify the continuation of selling sedan models.