2y ago

What's going to happen to all of these SUVs?

I live in the UK and I drive an Astra. It's a four door hatchback style car from the late 00s, I bought it used and still runs fine even if it's getting on a bit. I know it won't last forever, so I'll probably buy another used car.

Right now, it seems like every new car for sale is a SUV - maybe a crossover which is more moderately sized, but basically an SUV. Buying a new car like my Astra feels niche, I don't think I have ever seen one at a dealership in the last 5 years.

What's going to happen to all of these SUVs in 5-10 years? The used market is going to be filthy with them and people are going to buy and drive them because they'll be cheap - regardless of the fact they are unsafe, costly to run and damaging to road infrastructure. I don't think we will see any car other than a SUV style car, or a van, on the roads in 5 years.

Does this not terrify anybody else? Something has to change here - either a shift to micro mobility scooters and e bikes or a massive increase in transit investment - or we are headed towards an even bigger disaster. Anybody else feel this way?

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Here in the middle of America, it's not SUVs - it's full-size pickup trucks. Just as much of an ecological and safety disaster though.
- In southern Ontario it's both full-size pickups and SUVs. I live in a rural area so many pickups are lifted or have tires that extend outside the fender. Vehicles so big they can't even stay in thier lane. Constantly drift into the empty bike lane even on the straightest part of the road. Can't even control these monstrosities on a good day.
- Ah, the pickup truck, the SUV for insecure dads. Or for office workers LARPing as construction workers.
  I think the Ford CEO even said they build trucks for the working man, but I don’t think a tradesman has an unlined bed, a super lifted truck, or a short bed that can’t fit a full sheet of plywood or drywall
  
  That idea of pickup trucks being for required 'working people' is totally made up. Construction workers all over the world do fine with simple white vans.
  
  Well you would be wrong on the last part, tradesmen are very often just as (in my experience sometimes more) superficial and short-sighted regarding their choice of vehicle. 90% of jobs people think they should buy a truck for would be far better suited with a van.
Until there are fundamental economics and regulatory work to de-incentivize the purchases of these monster cars, they won't stop. It's a much higher margin item from the auto makers perspectives, so they will keep trying to sell and market these cars.
- Amen to that!
Another auto industry scam. Unnecessary, unsafe and wasteful. And we buy most of them on finance plans (in the UK).
Here in the States the Toyota Camry is the only car that made the top ten most sold vehicle list for 2022. Everything else is either a crossover/SUV (Honda CR-V, Tesla Model Y), or a truck (#1 is the Chevy Silverado, #2 is the Ford F-series).
We're already deeply screwed.
- That's sad. But do you think it's less to do with wanting to own a bigger car, and more that regular people can't really afford to buy new cars anyway? So the sample size is skewed in favour of rich people (or moderately well off) who can actually afford a new car in the first place?
  Maybe that's why we are seeing a surge in e bikes.
  
  <Duplicate comment which apparently I can't delete>
  
  I don't know if that statistic included used car sales, so it may only reflect those able to buy a new vehicle. It still reflects a pretty substantial shift in preference though, in my view. The list was 9 cars out of 10 just a few decades ago.
  Also, used car stock reflects prior new car purchase decisions, so over time we just starve ourselves of reasonably sized vehicles to choose from.
I actually never thought about them beeing on the used market in a couple years 🤔
I hate SUVs and cannot for the love of god understand why people like them. I hope that the small car like a Ford Fiesta or Fiat 500 don't die (the fiesta sadly already did)
- I have owned a SUV in the past - Toyota Rav. I really liked that car. It was a pain to park and I scraped it a few times, but it felt nice to be higher up and comfortable, especially when I was a new driver.
  I know in hindsight now I don't need any of those things. I'm a lot more confident as a driver and am perfectly happy with smaller cars.
  You should watch Not Just Bikes' video on Light Trucks, it's pretty eye opening.
Probably this. Some of it gets recycled, some exported elsewhere, either to lay on another trash heap or be driven by someone in another country where it doesn‘t "count" for our pollution.
- We need to start having waste be part of the consideration when producing a product. If your product is meant to last a long time, there should be a strategy for bringing it back and recycling it fully. This goes for computers, phones, cars, whatever!

22 comments