Back in, I think, '18 or '19, the major American auto manufacturers dropped almost all of their car lines, in favor of pickups and SUVs. Apart from the sportiest models, you cannot buy an American car from the biggest companies (except maybe Tesla). I would like to hear if anyone has a good explanation for this shift.
Most sport utility vehicles, mini-vans, and pickups are classified as “light trucks” and thus are regulated less stringently than passenger cars under two major laws — the Energy Policy and Conservation Act for fuel economy standards, and the Clean Air Act for emissions standards.
Sport Utility Vehicles, Mini-Vans, and Light Trucks: An Overview of Fuel Economy and Emissions Standards - EveryCRSReport.com
Soccer moms? It’s easier to get the little turds into the back of an SUV than a sedan?
I think it took too long for auto manufacturers to offer mini-vans and sports models with AWD and by the time they did interest had shifted to vehicles that had it, AKA SUV’S and pick up trucks.
They’re quite practical for some folks. Perfect vehicles for my Wife and I. Real good if you have dogs, haul some stuff once in a while and have deep snow to deal with.
We have no kids, and rarely haul people around. Can’t remember the last time I had the back seats configured as seats instead of just flat.
This matches my understanding.
Other responses in this thread explain why some people prefer SUVs, but that’s not the question that was asked.
The thing about gaming emissions regs is true, but the Tesla Model Y (small SUV) is their best-selling model.
They’re more profitable for the car companies.
Those are the main ones. By not offering cars anyone would want, the car companies can say “Americans don’t want cars.” A very clever catch-22. Big SUV’s and pickup trucks have also been tied into personal identity and by extension politics. You’re not a “real” American/man/adult/patriot if you don’t drive a lifted extended-cab gas guzzler to McDonalds.
The most generous take is that the Model Y is a crossover, but I don’t even buy that. It’s a puffed-up sedan that also happens to be hatchback, and I personally think its proportions are terrible.
That’s not a generous take, it’s a factual one - it’s built in the Model 3’s platform. That’s part of gaming the system - all car makers are simply building tall sedans instead of actual SUVs (4x4 vehicles on truck platforms).
Toyota sold 200,000 plus Corollas in the United States in 2023, so Americans will certainly buy cars, They just won’t buy them from Ford or GM.
American companies can’t compete profitably in the sedan market. And I’m not sure they ever could after imports became available.
I think they, light trucks and ostensibly mini vans and SUVs were less stringently regulated for safety as well. That may be an old faulty memory of mine but it fits in with PROFITS!
They tried - the Ford Focus, the Chevy Cruze. But people weren’t buying them. I don’t know if the foreign car makers products were just objectively better or if the bad reputation American cars got in the 70s and 80s just persisted and poisoned the markets.
Yup this, this is the main reason. I’d also add there is a phsycological aspect to it. You feel safer when you are higher up, even though it makes no sense, cars with a lower center of gravity are more stable and more effficent.
And finally there is a “prisoners dilemma” aspect to it. Regular cars are perfectly safe (or as safe as a small box being propelled at freeway speeds can be) until some people decide (against all logic) to drive great big SUVs where the bumpers are at your head head height. Then, yeah, regular cars are less safe, better get a great big SUV, for safety.
There are different safety standards for all trucks. Trucks are vehicles used for both passenger transportation and some other utility purpose. This covers pickup trucks, some commercial passenger vans, and larger trucks. Light trucks and some other exceptions have been made to emission standards. There were once many fewer safety regulations applied to trucks but over time many of the same standards for passenger cars have been applied to trucks. There are still fewer safety standards for trucks than there are for passenger cars and there are continuing arguments about how and when they should apply to non-commercial vehicles. There are a number of categories of trucks defined for commercial vehicles so the applicability of safety standards are better defined.
As an anecdotal bit, to hear MamaDelirious tell, the compact SUV crossover also provides the Boomer/Older GenX demographic with a seat that’s already right below butt-height when standing so they can just slide in and out sideways w/o have to perform squats or bring climbing equipment.
IMO trucks and SUVs have widespread appeal. Everybody likes the extra utility of carrying home a new dresser, dishwasher, or table saw. Men like fast cars, and they also like big cars like cowboys use. Women like big cars because they get stuck driving kids around more than men and they also like the perceived safety of a big heavy vehicle, and maybe because they’re what cowgirls use. If initial cost, maintenance costs, fuel cost, or parking space aren’t limitations, if you don’t drive constantly on narrow city streets or Lombard St. in San Fran, then why wouldn’t you want an SUV?. And even if you have to deal with those issues and you have a 2nd car why wouldn’t it be an SUV? Of course there are reasons not to get an SUV, but few cars offer all the advantages they have. I suggest that you should have 2 cars, one should be a Corvette or a Tesla, and the other one should be a Canyonero. YMMV.
Get a station wagon. I believe their interior capacity is on par with most SUVs. And there are some great fast wagons out there if you want something a little more sporty (indeed, a few really expensive ones are considered some of the best things there are to drive…and they can be ridiculously fast).
My WAG is people like sitting up high. King of the road. As a city dweller I despise the people driving pickup trucks. Almost all of those trucks have never seen a day of work. They are pristine. Just some schmo thinking the pickup is cool. (To be clear, pickups are fine when used as a pickup.)
The main reasons have been mentioned: manufacturers gaming the EPA mileage system and profits. And I think a couple of posters have come close, but I’ll add the psychological effect of marketing. If you watch the commercials, virtually every SUV on the screen is zipping through the brush, fording rivers and streams, and basically climbing Everest.
So the marketers and manufacturers create a fantasy that drivers will do things with their vehicles that they never actually do. Instead of rock crawling a desert, the farthest off road real people go is maybe the parking lot of their local Olive Garden. But it’s the fantasy that gets them to buy.
My Sister in law drove a Prius until it was worn out. Instead of replacing it with another she bought a hybrid RAv-4. The main reason was she did not want to have to lower her body to get into it and also climb back out from a low position when she exited. She says the new vehicle gets great mileage as did the Prius. There is an element to what the car companies call " the command height" of Crossovers/SUV’s