My brother had one for a while in the 80s, when it was a banger really. It was a Matra Simca Rancho rather than the renamed Talbot Matra version.

Much of the body was fibreglass IIRC. Other than it being a bit of a heap I don't remember much more about it, though it was certainly a head turner then.

I do remember those - there was one near my house when I were a car- and bike-mad lad. They did look good. I suppose the original Range Rover would claim to be the first crossover, and possibly the Lada Riva ...

Now, another Matra oddball - the Bagheera: three front seats! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matra_Bagheera

Simcas were terrible for rotting, though. A friend's dad had one with huge holes in the wings.

"Were Talbot / Chrysler / Hillman or whatever the parent company was called, ahead of the game, by designing the first crossover and beating the Qashqai to market by 30 years?"

They might have thought they were, but in reality it was just an old Simca van tarted up to try to look macho. People weren't fooled: I think it had 7 seats so some people with large families bought them.

Based on the Simca 1100 pick-up/van, which dates back to 1967. Used the Simca 1100 mechanicals.

Rather than being the first crossover, being van based it is more the predecessor to vehicles like the Citroen Berlingo, Renault Kangoo, etc.