Open discussion. Here are some reasons I’ve heard so far. This transition away from cars isn’t happening [correction from texases: as much] in Europe.
The automotive industry has pushed the market toward pickups and SUVs, as there is a lot more profit. Bigger is more expensive but not necessarily more expensive to build. Good cars and station wagons were deliberately discontinued, towing capacities reduced, and certain features that might compete with a truck or SUV sales eliminated from cars.
The oil industry has an incentive to promote large vehicles which are less fuel efficient.
The gas guzzler tax, which only applies to cars, eliminated the traditional rear wheel drive American car, like the Crown Victoria. Those cars could tow 5000 pounds. Now a pickup or SUV is needed to get that kind of towing capacity.
CAFE emissions rules put fines on cars unless they’re very fuel efficient, so higher horsepower and more durable cars with high towing capacities are discouraged. Trucks have larger wheel footprints so they can have much lower fuel economy before CAFE fines are triggered.
The status symbol or feeling important by being bigger and higher off the ground has driven customers to go for trucks and SUVs.
People think that bigger and taller vehicles are safer.
Honestly, I think “Image” plays a huge role in America. Every truck/SUV commercial you see has the vehicle driving through the wood, through the desert, up a mountain, pulling a boat/trailer, sometimes through the snow and uphill backwards. Easily 90% of trucks/SUVs in America never leave the pavement in reality…but we “want” our friends/neighbors/strangers to “think” we live a certain lifestyle. Hence the never used color coordinated tow hooks, LED light bars, lift kits, rugged bumpers, and on and on…
4 door sedans just aren’t nearly as “rugged”. Even though they provide the exact same function as most trucks/SUVs out there.
Well there is more profit in trucks but when cars went light duty so they were no longer able to perform historic tasks such as towing even a boat, I think the public switched out of necessity. I think it has little to do with image except for a small slice of buyers, but the public will make decisions based on what fits their needs. Same reason evs are losing popularity. Trying to force the market though with regulations never works in a free society.
Four door sedans do not serve the same function as SUV’s. You can’t fold down the seats in a sedan to haul large objects and many suvs have a third row seat to have 6 or 7 people in at once . Even the smaller CUV type is much more useful than a sedan.
While I am not a fan of the current size and cost of modern trucks I fully understand why my neighbor with 3 kids in various sports makes good use of his crew cab truck.
Interesting how while the average size of families has decreased from fifty years ago the size of houses and vehicles many families find necessary has increased.
As to cars, based on discussions I’ve had with multiple family and friends, the main reasons I repeatedly hear for buying SUVs, small or medium size, as opposed to sedans are (in no particular order):
Easier to get small kids in and out of car seats.
Hatchback access to cargo area.
Cargo area able to accommodate taller items.
Easier to load and unload cargo area.
Higher vehicle allowing the driver to see around taller vehicles easier.
Perceived better safety against the huge average size of pickups.
In a few cases, towing capability. Although those who need that usually seem to get a pickup.
It’s interesting to me that Lincoln and Cadillac marketed pickup trucks a couple of years back, but these trucks apparently didn’t sell very well and were taken off the market. Apparently, the Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, and Ram project a different image.
In my earlier days, pickup trucks were work vehicles. I bought a 1950 Chevrolet 3800 (one ton) pickup back in 1972. I lived in the country and used the truck to stretch fence and haul hay. I paid $115 for the truck and sold it three years later and was only able to get $110 for the truck. I took a beating on depreciation. I don’t think today’s 4 door pickups with the shortened bed could haul 50 bales of hay and I wouldn’t try to stretch fence with an automatic transmission that is standard in pickup trucks today. I could put my old Chevy pickup in creeper gear and stretch 200 feet of wire fence and get the fence so tight one could play tunes on the fence. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to take the old truck on the Interstate. I am guessing the top speed was about 60 mph–that is just a guess as the speedometer never worked. The truck had 17" split rim wheels.
Today, I have a Toyota Sienna minivan. I no longer live in the country, and my needs are different as I transport my musician friends and their instruments to rehearsals and concerts. I don’t think they would be comfortable riding in the bed with their instruments.
I didn’t read the whole comment but you took one line of half a page or more. Not saying 50% is or is not a trend in Europe, but geese.
Now as far as marnes list, I like the cargo space and the fact I can change oil without a Jack, but the main decider was what the wife wanted. She likes to be up higher and the color was right.
As far as SUV’s, American car buyers believe larger/heavier cars are safer in collisions, and they like sitting higher b/c it makes the driving a little easier. I’d be surprised if there were much difference in these feelings for Euro drivers, especially for family vehicles. Pickup trucks don’t seem to be very popular in Euro-zones. Not sure why. There may be extra taxes on those type of vehicles. I don’t get the sense that Euro home owners want to take their pickup truck to Home Depot for a load of the metric equivalent of 2x4’s. If they want that sort product they’ll have it delivered to their home.
The basis of his post is wrong. It should be something like ‘I wonder why people the world over are switching from cars to SUVs’. Not ‘I wonder why us in the US like SUVs, unlike folks in Europe’.
It was a youtube video about pickup trucks. I remembered incorrectly and confused the lack of pickup truck sales in Europe to include crossover SUV sales as well, which as you point out isn’t true. However, with the lack of light trucks, and SUV sales in Europe being less than in the US, it’s happening much less in Europe.
Gas is $10 a gallon or more. 3x what we pay. That keeps Europeans out of the bigger SUVs
If youv’e ever tried to park in a European city, size is not your friend. Driving the incredibly narrow rural roads tends to encourage smaller vehicles, too.
I’ve had off and on about 5 trucks over the years that I have driven, plus the rental for 2 months that I put over 4K miles on for work, I enjoyed them all for different reasons, the old Power Wagon for different reasons than my Dakota, the little 1992 Toyota p/up I bought for my shop that also took the family camping and stuff, but when I was driving that 2018 Silverado LT 4 door, I fell in love with the features and ability to haul 4-5 adults around plus a bed to haul whatever in… I was sad when I had to turn it in, even if it was a Chevy… lol
Here is a pic of the truck getting loaded down with 33" plus Destination MT’s, we got 12 in the truck for the 60 mile trip to work…
I have also owned many sedans, a van and now the Vibe/Matrix… But after deciding to treat myself to a newish truck, now I have a mid size truck with 4 full size doors and the other day my daughter and her 6.5 long legged bf went with me shopping and I figured he would sit up front, but he got in the back and she just moved the seat up a couple of inches and he said he had plenty of room, way more room then in the Vibe or Corollas, so I have the best of both worlds, a sedan with a bed to haul stuff around in it… I love it… I don’t want to drive anything else right now…
And you would be surprised at just how much stuff you can fit in the back seat part with the rear seats folded flat… Then flip one or both rear seats (60/40) back up in a matter of seconds and take the grandkid to an appt…
Here is the newish truck being used for------ gasp----- a truck… lol
The loss of those vehicles and capabilities was cause by the need to meet higher fuel economy requirements, not a conspiracy from big oil or vehicle manufactures.
The consumer drives the market. Sedans sacrifice ground clearance and head room in favor of fuel economy, people don’t want to sit on the floor with their legs stretched out flat. SUV’s upright seating is more comfortable, passenger’s knees are bent with higher seats. Upright seating also allows for a shorter passenger compartment, that along with a shorter cargo area the vehicles are shorter in length and easier to park.
Most consumers didn’t transition from the sedan to $70,000 SUVs, many are 5 passenger cross-over vehicles. Millions of compact and mid-sized CUVs sold each year.
The RAV4 was rather small in the mid '90s when buyers were switching to SUVs.
Honda CRV, Suzuki Sidekick, Kia Sportage, not large SUVs.
I was not a fan of trucks and SUVs as they started becoming popular. My dad had a full size van- Ford Club wagon with seats and windows. I borrowed it when I started racing to carry tools and tow my car. It was awful to drive but it met the need. Then a falling tree killed it.
I bought a used Suburban, an 89. It was better to drive and towed far better than the van. A leased 99 3/4 ton 454 Subby replaced it. It rode better, drove better and towed better (!!) And had 3 rows of seats. Cost more than my first house!
Then came 2 Avalanches. Better ride, better handling, would seat 5-6 and the 5.5 foot bed had a waterproof cover. So… a 4 door tall car that could tow 8800 lbs with a big trunk. It is a taller 1976 Chevy Impala with a tow package that gets 50% better fuel mileage.
The trucks morphed from bare utility to match the luxury, features and utility of those 70s large cars legislated out of existance by the EPA. Why did this happen? Because you can’t force people to buy cars they do not want.
The extneded effect was to spawn small and.mid sized SUVs for people not wanting to try to park the big SUVs.
I’m not the one to ask. This is a discussion, and those are some things that have been said by people in the past. If you did want an example, perhaps exempting SUVs from the gas guzzler tax. A 17 MPG car has to pay a heafty tax, but a 15 MPG pickup doesn’t. So a 15 MPG vehicle is sold instead of the 17 MPG one, and the gas guzzler tax actually does the opposite of what it was supposed to accomplish.
For me SUVs are perfect vehicles. Bought my first one in 1990 (Nissan Pathfinder). Basically an SUV is a station wagon with higher ground clearance and most of the time AWD or 4WD. We do a lot of camping in the summer hauling a small pop-up and skiing in the winter. No other vehicle suits us better than an SUV. Camping is now just my wife and I, but sometimes the kids will join us for skiing trips to the White Mountains.
Yup!
An SUV can do anything that a sedan can do, but a sedan can’t do many of the things that an SUV can do.
Years ago, governors and other high-level politicians traveled in limousines, which were essentially long wheelbase sedans. With the exception of “The Beast”–which is used by The POTUS–all of that type of transport is now done with SUVs. And, underneath its pseudo-Cadillac sheetmetal, The Beast is actually a GM SUV.
