Americans, as you may have noticed, like to supersize things. Soda cans are bigger here, and so are hotel rooms, houses, and cars. Here in the U.S., giant pickup trucks and SUVs are the norm; visit any school at pickup time and you’re likely to see Chevrolet Tahoes, Jeep Grand Wagoneers, and Ford Expeditions in the carpool line. It would be easy to pick on the GMC Hummer EV because it’s massive; the battery alone is as heavy as a Honda Civic. But the Hummer EV is such a blast to drive that it gets a pass.
Per a report from the EPA, the average vehicle footprint expanded by six percent between 2008 and 2023, a “historic high.” James Jenkins, department head of Product Planning for Honda and Acura vehicles at American Honda, says customers in America want more space for their things so the brand wants to provide that.
“Larger cars, like the Accord, are more comfortable to drive on long trips with the longer wheelbases, which lends itself to the driving habits in the U.S.,” Jenkins says.
Bigger roads and cheaper fuel
There are two main reasons why vehicles are bigger in the U.S., says Ed Kim, the president of automotive marketing research AutoPacific. “Ultimately, it comes down to the price of fuel,” he says. “Sure, we Americans complain about the price of gasoline, but the reality is that gasoline is taxed far less than almost any other country in the world.”
In other words, he explains, cheap fuel allows Americans to drive far larger vehicles and less fuel-efficient vehicles compared to drivers in most other parts of the world. According to business forecasting site Kiplinger, a gallon of gas cost $3.75 last summer in the U.S. Compare that to the cost per gallon in the UK ($6.98), Singapore ($7.64) or Hong Kong (a whopping $12.16!).
Related, American roads are designed to accommodate the larger vehicles we have due to the cheaper fuel we’ve historically had. Streets are wide, and even most parking spaces are sized to accommodate larger vehicles.
Europe was developed before America, its cobbled streets designed for pedestrians and horses. If you’ve never traveled along a narrow road in Portugal in a Range Rover SV, which is 6-feet, 8-inches wide without the mirrors, I can promise you the walls feel very close. That’s a major reason why cars in countries like France, Spain, and Italy are so small; it’s much less stressful to pilot a Volkswagen Polo or Dacia Sandero through tight roads that would generously be called alleys in the U.S.
As automakers develop more fuel-efficient hybrids and EVs, size matters less than ever.
“We’re at a stage where you can get bigger products with little impact to fuel economy,” Jenkins agrees.
Last year’s EPA report showed promise for the environmental future as new technologies for reducing emissions comes to light: “Preliminary data suggest that the average new vehicle CO2 emission rate and fuel economy will continue to improve in model year 2024,” the report reads, “and that the impact of BEVs and PHEVs will continue to grow.”
The perception of safety
I’ve heard more parents say they want their new teen driver to have a big SUV or truck because “it’s safer in a crash.” The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety backs up that notion, stating that a bigger, heavier vehicle provides better crash protection than a smaller, lighter one (assuming no other differences between them). The area of the car between the front bumper and the cabin is designed to absorb energy from crashes by crumpling. Longer front ends offer better protection in frontal crashes, and, the IIHS says, heavier vehicles also tend to continue moving forward in crashes with lighter vehicles and other obstacles, so passengers are subject to less force.
“Large vehicles aren’t as big a threat to people in small vehicles as they used to be,” says the IIHS. “A lighter vehicle will always be at a disadvantage in a collision with a heavier vehicle. But in recent years automakers have reduced the threat that SUVs and pickups pose by lowering their energy-absorbing structures so that they line up with those in cars.”
It becomes a cycle: as more people buy larger cars, the tendency to want to match the size increases. That’s especially true in suburban areas (thus, the big Chevy Suburban SUV in neighborhoods all over America), where there’s more space and bigger driveways.
Companies like Telo are making small, city-sized electric trucks to fill the niche demand in the U.S. for those who want something a little cozier.
This story is part of Popular Science’s Ask Us Anything series, where we answer your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the ordinary to the off-the-wall. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.
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