New cars have become so bloated that half of them are too wide to fit in parking spaces designed to the minimum on-street standards in many countries, the report found. The average width of a new car in the EU and UK passed 180cm in the first half of 2023, having grown an average of 0.5cm each year since 2001.
Prior to the great downsizing of the 1970’s the common width of full sized American cars was 80" or 203cm., so i dont see why there is any fuss over those dimensions
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Not real sure about cars but pick up trucks sure are bloated compared to my first truck, a 1950 GMC and my later 1970 to 1980’s era F 150’s.
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Maybe parking spaces in Europe are too narrow. I haven’t see any problems for cars parking in parking spaces. Trucks maybe, but not cars.
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I have driven and ridden in cars in a few European cities. I would not want to drive or park a Land Rover sized SUV in any of them. But the shops near me have huge parking spaces more than enough to park my huge SUV.
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And most of the truck/SUV driver issue with parking is they don’t understand how to properly park in between 2 lines evenly… 
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[quote=“jimkoe329_179295, post:3, topic:194226”]ex
pick up trucks sure are bloated compared to my first truck, a 1950 GMC and my later 1970 to 1980’s era F 150’s.
[/quote]
To me those trucks was a nice size and got the job done but what I don’t understand is why a PU needs four doors and odd size beds as compaired to the standard six and eight foot size.
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For your Pit Bulls of course…
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Like this?
Or, like this?
Or, like this winner?
But, to be fair, I sometimes see medium-size sedans that are parked just as badly.
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I see LITTLE cars parked that way every trip to the grocery. Especially Nissan Versas… Usually scarred on 3 of 4 corners diagonally parked with one corner or the other over the line. With our extra wide parking spaces, that makes my head spin! 
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Even if they do park evenly between the lines, getting in or out of the truck is difficult because the trucks are still close to the lines. When I park I look for a spot where the vehicles, especially trucks, are parked away from the line next to my door. If parking spots are few I’ll back in to get the extra room.
Back in the 80’s extended cabs started to become popular especially for families. Longer cabs with 6 foot beds on the 8-ft standard cab frame. Those extended cab seats were a bit cozy… So they added 4 standard doors, and made the bed 5 ft long because people apparently didn’t want the crew-cab pickup with an 8 foot bed length. Doesn’t fit many standard garages.
I love my Avalanche - 4 door short (5ft) bed truck because… the rear seats fold and there is a big door behind the sears into the bed that folds down to make for an 8.5 foot bed. It supports 10 ft drywall sheets if you leave the tailgate down. Swiss Army Knife of trucks/SUVs
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My 66 Fleetwood wouldn’t fit in my garage (length or width). Might be able to fit through the opening, but I wouldn’t be able to open the car door.
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Similarly, my Uncle’s '64 Imperial stuck ~1.5 ft out from his garage, even when he had the front bumper up against the back wall. The width wasn’t an issue, but I think that many younger people don’t realize just how HUGE the cars of the '60s & '70s were.
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I used to think the same thing as well, then I got a crew cab pickup. Turns out crew cabs are insanely practical. Need seating for four or five? It’s got you covered, Need a good chunk of dry storage? It’s got you covered. Need both dry storage, but you got some stuff that you don’t want to put inside the cab? You can do that too. The only time the shorter bed has really been a hindrance is when I doing the once or twice a year major yardwork, and it now takes 3 trips to the landfill instead the two it took with an 8 foot bed.
The Europeans seem to be getting around this by including rear wheel steering as standard or available as an option on pretty much everything big. Of course it just adds more to the complexity, but these are already complicated cars with their air suspensions, etc. what’s one more thing.
Hyundai has taken this idea to the next level with their Mobis EV concept cars. Not only is the driver able to steer all 4 wheels, but the wheels can turn as far as 90 degrees, thus allowing one to crab-walk the car into an incredibly tight parking space. Naturally, this is only possible when you have an electric motor in each wheel hub, and you don’t have to deal with drive axles.
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I can see why that’d be popular, esp for new-drivers who have trouble parallel parking. Funny story: A driver was having trouble parallel parking near to a gov’t building. I stood by and watched for a couple of minutes just to see what would happen … as the car was still nowhere near being parked & they didn’t seem to be converging to a sol’n, I gave up and went inside. An hour later I emerged from the building; they were still working at getting the SUV parked , but now all four wheels were on the sidewalk … lol …
The typical European car has been comparable to what we call a compact in the US today. A typical big car like a Lincoln Towncar is almost unheard of over there. It would be impractical like driving a crew cab pickup with a full length bed in the US. Things are smaller in Europe.
Same with South America. The reason being - the roads are extremely narrow compared to the US. We have cities and towns here in the US that were founded AFTER the invention of the car. Most of US cities and towns were spread out compared to Europe. Much easier for us to adapt to a larger vehicle then Europe or South America. South America had a different problem - JUNGLE. Small to mid pickups are extremely popular in South America. You’ll find some Toyota, Nissan pickups in South America that were never sold in the US.
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