The 2015 Chicago auto show, where press previews were held on 12 February, was all about plausible deniability.  The knock on US drivers is that they do not buy hatchbacks or station wagons, but they do – provided they come packaged as crossovers.  Kia led the way with a fun, ruggedized version of its Soul model. With off-road tires, a smidge more ground clearance and all-wheel-drive courtesy of an electric motor at the rear axle, the Soul Trail’ster concept is both hatchback and wagon, neatly disguised as a mini-SUV. The Trail’ster boasts increased ground clearance, Pirelli winter tires and the requisite skid plates armouring its underside against rock damage.  “This is a near-term look at how a production Soul could easily evolve into an all-wheel-drive machine that can escape the city,” said chief designer Tom Kearns.  In place of the Soul’s optional, heavy and expensive panoramic sunroof, the concept Trail’ster wears a cheap, lightweight and outdoorsy canvas rollback roof that evokes Jeeps of old.  Kia has made a habit of teasing fans with SUV-themed Soul concept and project cars, without delivering them in showroom form – an unfortunate history that US executive vice president of marketing Michael Sprague acknowledged in Chicago. “It has happened before,” Sprague said. “[Production prospects] largely come down to the feedback we get from media and consumers.”  Stronger clues to the Trail’ster’s production potential comes from its mechanical bits. Kia converted the front-drive Soul to all-wheel drive by bolting in an electric drive module that independently powers the rear wheels. This so-called “through-the-road” style hybrid requires no change to the conventional powertrain, but adds 35 horsepower and 100 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels, for a total of 220hp and 285lb-ft. Using a lithium-polymer battery pack like that of all Hyundai and Kia hybrids, the Trail’ster would achieve 25% to 30% better fuel economy in the city and about 5% percent improved highway efficiency, according to Sprague.  Honda, meanwhile, has a longstanding best-selling crossover SUV in the Pilot. But as market tastes have shifted towards more carlike crossovers, the plausible deniability conferred by the current model’s blocky styling is seemingly no longer required.  Trucklike qualities of the Pilot have consequently been dialled down for the 2016 model year, though the SUV still rides high on new 20in wheels, a first for conservative Honda. Inside, family-hauler amenities include a “locker” for storing and charging mobile devices, five USB charging ports, a 115-volt AC plug and a rear-seat video system with Blue-Ray disc player and HDMI input.  Unfortunately, the Pilot is also saddled with the Honda Display Audio System – whose touch-sensitive controls rank among the trickiest in the industry – and the curious pushbutton shifter seen previously on the Acura TLX sport sedan.  The Acura side of the Honda family also bolstered its SUV line in Chicago, with a refreshed RDX compact SUV, reinforcing what the company described as the best-selling pair of SUVs (along with the mid-sized MDX) in the US market.  As seems to be the trend, the RDX wears slipperier sheet metal more suited to cruising highways than traversing dry washes. Powertrain tweaks add six horsepower to the 3.5-litre gasoline V6 engine, and a slew of gears to the automatic transmission, as the RDX now has nine forward ratios.  Acura is also pressing its case as a safety leader, as the refreshed RDX is upgraded to withstand the much-dreaded severe small overlap offset crash test, introduced in recent years by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a testing centre financed by the US automotive insurance industry. Acura predicts a top score on that an all other tests, which would make the Honda subsidiary the only luxury brand with top scores on all the relevant tests.  The Chevrolet Equinox has been a top-seller in the North American mainstream compact crossover market, and parent company General Motors charted a conservative path of sensible improvements rather than wholesale change for a model that has posted its best sales in recent months. In fact, the Equinox is Chevrolet’s best-selling passenger vehicle in the US, its sales trailing only those of the Silverado pickup truck.  Revisions reach seat fabrics, trim and instrumentation, as well as headlights and taillights. New safety technologies such as blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert make their debuts.  Mitsubishi, on the other hand, has very little to lose, considering the brand’s anemic North American sales. That let the company be a bit daring with its Concept GC-PHEV, a crossover SUV not far removed from the GR-HEV pickup concept shown at the 2013 Geneva motor show, featuring a supercharged V6 gasoline engine, lithium-ion battery-powered electric motor, eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive.  The concept’s upright, boxy lines buck the trend toward more carlike styling, in a bid to recall Mitsubishi’s popular Montero off-roader. The plug-in electric drivetrain permits an estimated 25 miles of electric-only driving, while the Concept GC-PHEV is said to deliver better than 35mpg in hybrid gas-electric driving mode.  Mitsubishi is mum on whether it will actually sell a production version of the Concept GC-PHEV, which is not surprising, considering the brand’s tenuous position in the US market. But whether called an SUV, a crossover, a hatchback or a wagon, such a vehicle would be getting into a very broad family act.  If you would like to comment on this or anything else you have seen on BBC Autos, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.
The all-wheel-drive concept was joined with revisions of popular models such as the Chevrolet Equinox, Honda Pilot and Acura RDX. And a surprising Mitsubishi.