Recently, while traipsing from showroom to showroom in search of a used car for my growing clan, the iconic line from Christopher Nolan’s seminal Batman movie The Dark Knight came to mind: “You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” And by villain, of course, I mean an SUV driver.
Because, if you haven’t shopped for a secondhand family car recently, I’ll save you the shock: wherever you look, it’s SUVs.
It’s no surprise when these giant cars now make up 30% of all cars on the road and were 50% of all new car sales in rich countries in 2023. The look has been so popular that traditional body styles have been modified into taller, wider frames. Even Volvo, the defining family car brand, now only offers SUVs in the UK. All of which means that if, like me, you want a car under 10 years old, hoping it lasts another five, your options are “tank” and “tank-ette”.
More american excess we should have been stamping out the entire time.
Another one of those things we could fix if we had the political will.
Where have all the normal family cars gone?
- Lobbied and advertised out of existence by Big Autos. The big car companies successfully advertised everyone into needing huge pick-ups when they really didn’t, and lobbied for easy emissions passage while small cars have to meet ever-stricter emissions rules. We’re even at the point where SUVs are replacing sports cars in some instances even when a 5k lb brick will never outmaneuver something like a Miata or a TT RS on a track.
Minivans are still sold. You can buy one. People choose SUV’s which is why more are made. It’s not a conspiracy because the SUV form factor is literally fashion sheet metal with a raised suspension.
In the words of Alec Watson of Technology Connections, “GET OVER YOURSELF!”
Car companies make more SUVs because they can skirt emissions with them. Then they market them to people to induce demand.
So since I don’t want an SUV I guess I’m never buying a new car.
There’s also a supply issue. Manufacturers make more on SUVs and in the us have less stringent emissions caps, so they make a ton more. Annectodally several friends and relations have looked at getting minivans only to be confronted with months-long waitlists. The equivalent capacity SUV they could walk off the lot with that day. So, guess which they ended up with?
I think why there are more SUVs out there is because they fall into a category that is heavily subsidised. So people choose it more in the US because the alternatives are few and far between.
God I heard his voice with that awkward 1s pause in my head so clearly haha.
Also thanks, going to catch up on his channel because of your comment
Oh you’re gonna have such a good time.
I don’t think I ever knew Alec’s last name. Thank you!
I may be missing something here, but I don’t see the problem with the newer "tank-ette"s. We have a 2025 Nissan Kicks - sure it’s SUV shaped, but it’s not tall or have any of the issues typically associated with SUVs (I’m not an expert on these issues - happy to be educated here) - it really is just an SUV shaped car. Where I live there are lots of oversized pickups on the road, but there are also LOTS of Honda Civics and Hyundai Elantras - both still available in the classic sedan configuration.
I’m not trying to say there are not huge issues with the car industry/culture - I just feel this article is exaggerating the issue a little. Or, maybe it’s a market by market thing and Civics and Elantras aren’t available in the author’s market…
We have a 2025 Nissan Kicks - sure it’s SUV shaped, but it’s not tall or have any of the issues typically associated with SUVs (I’m not an expert on these issues - happy to be educated here) - it really is just an SUV shaped car.
I want to see one of those image overlay comparisons done between a Nissan Kicks (or similar small crossover) and a pre-WWII sedan:
“Cars” (as opposed to “trucks” or “vans”) have been lower to the ground for a long time until recently, but there is precedent for them being tall if you go back far enough.
