The Honda CR-V is one of the pioneers of the compact crossover segment. Together with the Toyota RAV4, it could be said that those two models helped reshape the motoring landscape to what we know today. For better or worse, our roads are now filled to the brim with SUV-like vehicles.
Launched in 1995 in Japan, the CR-V celebrates its 30th anniversary, as well as its 15 million sales milestone. As a little treat to commemorate its best-selling vehicle for the past decade, Honda has released concept sketches of the CR-V. To be more specific, it’s the concept sketches of every generation made so far.
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It’s rare glimpse into Honda’s design studio works, and it’s great that the company is sharing these now. From there, you’ll see how each CR-V model went from sketch to reality.
Honda CR-V (RD1)
Starting with the first-generation, we can see that Honda intended to make it look rugged from the start. While the first sketches looked downright wacky, one can make out some of the boxy cues that would eventually end up in the road-going versions. And let’s not forget the table that came with all of them.
Honda CR-V (RD4)
Moving to the second-generation, there’s still a bit of that rugged appearance, but in a curvier way. The initial sketches show that the concept would look close to the real deal, although Honda was already toying with the idea of ditching the rear spare tire. The spare tire delete came courtesy of the Fullmark edition, and yes, this still had a table.
Honda CR-V (RE)
But the third generation had a dramatic shift. The sketch reveals an almost MPV-like design, looking nothing like its predecessors. It seems that Honda had embraced the CR-V’s more family-friendly purpose and lessened the SUV-ness of it with the new shape. We lost the tailgate-mounted spare, as well as the table and pop-up glass hatch in this model, and every subsequent generation has since followed the third-generation’s foundations.
Honda CR-V (RM)
The fourth-generation was a gentle evolution of the previous model. While the sketch is less MPV-like compared to the last version, it still had a somewhat rounded appearance. However, the design proposals looked pretty wild and almost lost the signature vertical tail lights at one point but we’re thankful that Honda kept it. The end product was far from a radical change from its predecessor, but this is the model that overthrew the Civic as Honda’s best-selling vehicle.
Honda CR-V (RW)
Perhaps to address the criticism of the evolutionary look of the prior model, the fifth-generation went all space age. As it turns out, the sketches suggested a more radical look, although we still see remnants of the third and fourth generation. The bulging fenders did make its way to production, albeit less pronounced.
Honda CR-V (RS)
As for the current model, Honda opted for a cleaner and more restrained appearance from the start, as suggested by the sketch. We did notice that it looks closer to production over the last three models, perhaps a sign that Honda had locked in the design early in its development phase.
More photos of the Honda CR-V early design sketches:
