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“People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can’t trust people Jeremy.”

The popularity of SUVs is driven by a whole variety of factors. Eventually some of those factors will start to weaken. One of the factors is that many of the costs of SUVs are externalised.

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Another factor is that car companies market SUVs heavily.

Another factor is that you get often more space in cabin and boot compared to a "regular" car of the same length. I.e. you get more comfort for passengers while still able to fit in the same parking space. It's not just fashion. There are real reasons why families purchase SUVs. SUVs nowadays are not just Range Rovers and BMW X5s, there are myriad smaller vehicles starting from 4m length. Even France's own Renault, Peugeot and Citroen have half of their models in SUV shapes of all sizes.

SUVs are more profitable than "regular" cars. Therefore they are marketed more heavily. Consumer choice is obviously not entirely driven by marketing, but if it didn't have an impact, car companies wouldn't do it.

American automakers are obviously much further down this path, but European automakers don't have to pay for externalities either.

Nope that's just wrong, you often get more space in the regular car. The classic "ugly" family cars like Renault Espace or VW Sharan provide waaaaay more space than the SUVs

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