New cars are getting 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller each year
A new analysis by Transport & Environment reveals that new cars are growing on average 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller every year, driven by consumer preference for SUVs and crossovers. This trend is making cars too large for standard parking spaces and European streets, and the report warns of the environmental and safety implications. The study calls for regulators to address the issue, suggesting that without intervention, cars will continue to balloon, undermining efforts to reduce emissions and improve road safety.
The average new car is now 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller than the year before, meaning that in just a decade, cars have grown by the width of a human hand.
- mulderc
Cars have become absurd. We have an older car, and I occasionally look at what we could replace it with, and everything is huge and expensive. Literally, the only car I have been interested in is from BYD and will never be available in my country.
- the_mitsuhiko
The wild thing for me is that we just recently bought an XC90 and an American friend asked me how we're managing with three kids in a "compact SUV". That car is about as large as cars get over here for the most part.
- oatmeal1
We need a pigouvian tax based on vehicle weight to address the increased deaths due to noise pollution, collisions, and increased wear to roads.
- wolvoleo
And this is in EU, not even America where cars have always been tanks.
I do think we will see fewer on the road though. In my city more and more streets are being pedestrianised. And unlimited public transport is only 24€ and amazing quality. Most of the people who still drive are rich foreigners that don't know any better. And also still view them as a status symbol.
Outside cities public transport isn't great though but it would be amazing if we would see car ownership decline by say 50% by 2040. Even electric cars aren't exactly good for the environment and cities become a lot more livable without cars.
The Germans will be pissed but they'll have to find new things to sell :)
- aimor
And the windows keep getting smaller, the beltlines higher, the seats more cramped, though I don't have statistics to back up any of that.