I re-read yesterday's entry and decided that in 1983 we really didn't call Trevor's GMC Suburban an SUV. In fact, I wondered whether the term had even been coined yet. It took a bit of a search but I found an answer.I am pretty sure that in reference to that vehicle we used a localized Kuwaiti term for GMC, pronounced as, Jimce.
The Word Spy
The phrase sport utility vehicle (SUV) entered the language in the 1970s, although in its earliest incarnations it most often shows up as sports utility vehicle (as well as sports-utility vehicle and sports/utility vehicle):
"Four-wheel drive is increasingly popular. A decade ago, about the only U.S.-made '4 by 4's,' as the industry calls them, were Jeeps and International Harvester's Scouts. Today every truck manufacturer offers four-wheel drive not only on sports utility vehicles but also on pickups — where it is a more and more common option — and suburbans as well."
—Charles G. Burck, "Trucks Muscle in on the Car Market," Fortune, February 27, 1978
The abbreviation SUV didn't get a toe-hold in the lexicon until about 10 years later:
"Ford, meanwhile, is planning to freshen up or completely redesign all of its light-truck recreational vehicle products in the early 1990s, in part to take full advantage of expected demand in the SUV segment of the market."
—Al Wrigley, "Ford picks Budd to supply Bronco II components," Metalworking News, June 29, 1987