Multipurpose Passenger Vehicle (MPV)
A vehicle designed to carry 10 people or fewer, built either on a truck chassis or with special features for occasional off-road use. It is the federal category most SUVs fall into.
From 49 CFR 571.3: a motor vehicle with motive power, other than a low-speed vehicle or trailer, “designed to carry 10 persons or less which is constructed either on a truck chassis or with special features for occasional off-road operation.”
This is the category that covers most of what a public fleet buys when it buys an SUV, including the pursuit-rated utility vehicles that have largely displaced the sedan in police fleets. It matters because an MPV is not a passenger car for regulatory purposes even when it is used exactly like one, so safety standards, emissions treatment and reporting can differ from the sedan it replaced.
Sources
- NHTSA, 49 CFR 571.3 retrieved 2026-09-01