The Honda CR-V was the Honda SUV nameplate first introduced for the 1997 model year in North America.
Honda launched the CR-V in Japan in October 1995, but its North American debut came after the vehicle was displayed at the 1996 Chicago Auto Show. It went on sale in the region in February 1997, making the 1997 model year the relevant North American introduction.
The first-generation CR-V was Honda’s first SUV designed in-house. It used a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and offered the practical, upright body and available four-wheel drive that defined the emerging compact-SUV class. A rear seat that could fold and a picnic-table-style cargo-floor feature emphasized versatility.
The CR-V is often confused with the larger Pilot, which arrived later, or the Passport, a separate nameplate that Honda revived in the 2010s. The model’s name is commonly expanded as “Comfortable Runabout Vehicle,” although Honda has not always treated that expansion as a formal technical acronym.