I know someone here can answer your question but I have one that is probably easier to answer.
WHY are so many people buying/driving SUVs? I have to depend on caregivers or friends to get me to doctor appointments, grocery shop etc., and they all drive SUVs that I cannot get UP into without difficulty and then paying the price in pain for days to follow. I had to hire transportation to get to a doctor appointment a month ago and no one had a vehicle that was easy to get into. Had to settle for one that was available and the driver was a delight and did help but still painful.
I notice on surface streets (no interstate) just about every car you meet is an SUV and in parking lots, SUVs outnumber the sedans parked in the same row.
Maybe an even more difficult question - WHY DO WOMEN BUY THEM? I have new neighbors and the wife drives an SUV and the husband drives a sedan. I had a friend tell me they’re easier to park (??) and good on gas mileage.
I hope my last nonsense question for the day..
“WHY are so many people buying/driving SUVs?”
It’s the station wagon of the 21st century. 20th as well actually.
On the question of SUV’s size is one reason but the extremely bad conditions of our roads is another.
With longer wheel travel there’s less of a chance the vehicle will be damaged when it hits a pothole.
I drive a sport sedan and have to always be careful not to damage the car. I have seen potholes two feet deep. There was another one near work that was the size of my car.
the more people buy them the more other people feel the need to buy them because you are surrounded on all sides by taller vehicles on the road which is unnerving and blocks your view of the road
I have an old two-wheel drive SUV that cost less than 33% less than to the corresponding pickup. With the back seats down, and the front passenger seat all the way forward and a cargo carrier on the hitch I can haul 12-foot lumber with only a couple inches hanging off the back. The pickup version can’t do that. The only thing I can’t do is load dirt or rock in bulk, but I could rent a trailer to do that. Also, I have a secure cargo area without having to buy a camper shell.
Did I say it cost 33% less?
We live on 2 connecting cul de sac with a mix of grand parents and relatively new parents.
Even the grannies drive suvs.
The parents haul a ton of stuff in their suvs.
Recently a neighbor had a birthday party for his 6 year old.
There were 20 visiting vehicles loaded with kids/toys/?
Only one vehicle was a sedan.
What are your choices for purchase of a vehicle?
The givernment mandated CAFE standards that drove manufacturers to create and market SUV’s because they are considered light trucks and don’t have to conform to the most stringent regulations of CAFE
Ford no longer makes cars as a result
https://www.thedrive.com/news/small-cars-are-getting-huge-are-fuel-economy-regulations-to-blame
No one is buying SUV’s because they are popular.
They are buying them because that is what the manufacturers are producing
When Henry Ford was asked what color the Model-T come in, he responded “you can have any color you want, as long as it is black”
They’re comfortable and they get you through the snow.
Everyone drives an SUV because ordinary cars are no longer made. Want a Ford Crown Victoria or Mercury Marquis (both famously popular with old fuddy-duddys)? Fuggeddaboutit. First they took away full-size V8 station wagons, now large sedans.