The RAV4 Gets All the Credit, But Nissan Invented the Crossover First
Did you know the first asphalt road in America was laid in 1871, running along the front of City Hall on William Street in Newark, New Jersey? In those days, everyone would have been using horses to get around, with the car not arriving for a decade or two later. What joy it must have been to not bounce around in a carriage on this newfangled asphalt.
Fast-forward to the year 2026, and you would be forgiven for thinking William Street had never received that asphalt surface. Almost everyone, it seems, is driving a jacked-up SUV or crossover, with chunky tires and bulbous bumpers, as if the drive to the supermarket will be an exercise in navigating some of the country’s most torturous backcountry. But where did all this off-road madness come from? Turns out, it might not be where you thought.
Crossovers Are Everywhere These Days
Walk down any inner-city street in America, and it is likely to be lined with vehicles that look ready to tackle the outback. Crossovers and SUVs are similar, and tend to morph into one another these days, but there are traditionally small differences. Experts will tell you that a crossover blends elements of a car and an SUV, with a smaller footprint, whereas SUVs are larger, more rugged, and with a higher ground clearance. Expect to see both of them bumped up on the curb outside a gym near you.
A lot of data suggests that crossovers of various shapes and sizes take up around 50% of the market share in the USA, growing from a single-digit figure around two decades ago. The appeal of a crossover lies in its ability to absorb the bumps and knocks of everyday life, while giving you space and a bit of ground clearance to take on a muddy parking lot, essentially an automotive Swiss Army Knife for tackling a busy modern life.
The Toyota RAV4 Was The Crossover Trailblazer…Right?
To find out who started all this, we need to look to 1994. The Toyota RAV4 is widely credited with inventing and launching the modern compact crossover SUV segment. Toyota calls the two-door first-generation RAV4 “the world’s first recreational compact SUV”, and it certainly was a game changer. With a 2.0-liter 16-valve gasoline engine and permanent all-wheel drive tuned for car-like handling, it could tackle fairly rugged terrain and then hold its own against the hot hatches of the era. Suddenly, drivers didn’t need to choose between on- and off-road performance. But over in Japan, another manufacturer had also released what looked like a crossover — it’s just that no one else would notice. Is this the forgotten missing link?
The Nissan Rasheen Brought The Crossover Concept To The Masses (Of Japan)
At the 30th Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan took the wraps off a brand-new old-looking car. The Rasheen was a compact 4WD that derived its name from the Japanese word “rashimban” meaning “compass”, with the tagline: “Our Anywhere Door.” It might have been a bit confusing to anyone casually walking by, as the new Rasheen took retro to a whole new place. As was becoming fashionable at the time, Japanese companies were looking to old European designs for inspiration, which would culminate in designs like the quirky Nissan Figaro and Mitsuoko Ryoga. The Rasheen paid homage to the East German Wartburg 353, a car that marked a step up on the pecking order from a Trabant.
Under The Retro Styling The Rasheen Had Proper 4WD Hardware
Underneath the slightly quirky yet joyful styling, the Rasheen was a step down from the full-fledged 4WD off-roader, acting as a rugged city runabout (sound familiar?). In Nissan’s own words, the Rasheen was “a pioneer of today’s casual crossover SUV (crossover utility vehicle).” It was not part of Nissan’s range of retro-futuristic Pike cars, so called because of their retro-futuristic looks and the fact that they were produced at Nissan’s Pike Factory, but had strong links to this iconic line. Under those retro GDR looks, the Rasheen, of course, was all modern.
The Rasheen Had The Right Ingredients For The Perfect Daily
The engine in the early Rasheens was a 104 hp 1.5-liter GA15DE, later changed to a 1.8-liter SR18DE after the face-lift in 1997. The Rasheen was based on the B13 Sunny structure with N14 Pulsar ATTESA (Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All-Terrain) AWD hardware. There was even a hot model, the Rasheen Forza, which arrived in 1998 with an iconic 2-liter SR20DE engine producing 143 hp.
The Rasheen was pretty light, weighing in at around 2,600 pounds, meaning that it was agile on both asphalt and unpaved surfaces. Inside, the Rasheen had a flat retro dashboard with recessed dials and plenty of ’90s-grade plastic. It’s impossible not to be charmed by these cars. The RAV4 did pioneer the sportier two-door style, with a four-door crossover arriving in 1995, but the Rasheen is arguably the first true four-door CUV.
The Rasheen Doesn’t Get The Respect It Deserves
Ultimately, the Rasheen remained a Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) product, and wasn’t released globally. The retro-styled Pike cars were very much in tune with domestic design trends and were never intended to be more than a niche product. The fact that they are all right-hand-drive and often had small engines better suited for big crowded cities meant they would need significant development to suit the USA market. This was unfortunate for the Rasheen, as it potentially could have sold well.
There are a lot of visual similarities with the 1997 first generation Subaru Forester, a car that generated a strong following. The Rasheen is certainly quirkily styled, but it’s not as unique as, say, a Figaro or an S-Cargo. In the end, a lot of experts point to the fact that when the Rasheen was discontinued in 2000, it was at least partly replaced by the more conventional X-Trail. But Rasheen sales suggested it was way more than a niche, with some sources suggesting 73,000 units throughout its six-year run.
Buying A Rasheen Today
If, after reading this, you are hankering after driving something that combines the everyday dependability of a ’90s Japanese hatchback with the looks of an Eastern Bloc taxi, then you are in luck. Thanks to the 25-year import rule, you can now import a Rasheen into the USA. There are plenty of good ones on offer in Japan ready to be shipped, with prices starting at less than $3,000 for higher-mileage examples.
The cool thing is that there are quite a few customizable options too, so no two Rasheens ever seem to look exactly the same. Imported cars tend to go for around $10,000, although we found a 118,000 mile Rasheen on Cars & Bids which sold for just $5,000 in 2024. The Rasheen is a crossover from another time, a naturally aspirated runabout that helped kick off one of the most popular car segments of today, yet one we will probably never see again.
Sources: Nissan, Cars & Bids
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