Why do we have SUVs? Blame it on the government, of course.
CAFE standards killed off station wagons, which were rather popular. However station wagons had worse mpg than the equivalent sedan. Therefore, automakers had to kill them off as meeting CAFE standards was and is very hard and they have to do all kinds of nonsense to meet them.
After they were killed off, I believe it was Ford, that first came up with a solution. Light trucks have a lower CAFE standard than cars. So, to meet the customer need for station wagons, a vehicle was designed to meet the light truck criteria, but was really a station wagon - Ford Explorer. And presto, everyone has SUVs. And, sedans are eliminated because it is easier to meet the Light Truck standard and people like the SUV (station wagon) better than a sedan.
I’m really sick and tired of automakers just rolling over and accepting the government mandates without a fight. They think they can just keep shove extra costs and consequences off on consumers. It is way last time we fought back and fought back furiously over it.