US SUVs and Trucks Popularity

One of the things going on in the market is CAFE rules in the US encouraging trucks and suvs as it allows them to make a larger profit than standard pedestrian vehicles. The car companies market these vehicles very aggressively.I thought that was about gas engines, but because there are so many on the road now people want bigger vehicles to be “safer” from everyone else on the street, which is a vicious cycle. The minivan was very popular until car companies started pushing the suv as a way a

If you regulate 'normal' cars into things people don't want to buy, don't be surprised if they want suvs or trucks instead.

This is already happening. Right now the most popular SUVs are in the "crossover" category, which have much better fuel economy. It appears most American drivers want:1. Elevated driving platform.2. Room for extra passengers and cargo.I agree that the vast majority of pickups (utes) sold in the U.S. are much larger than necessary for their usage and in comparison with pickups sold outside of North America.

It's probably more to do with the arrival of SUV's.

Why does everyone immediately pivot to SUVs on this subject, instead of (looks around) gargantuan Tesla Model Ys that weigh as much as a Ford Bronco and EV trucks everywhere, due to peculiarities of US consumer habits and the demand for huge vehicles to pick up groceries?

No more small cars or sedans - just SUV's and US trucks.

This is a true point, but it applies to SUV's as well as trucks. This is more an argument for moving to a sedan-dominated fleet than an argument against trucks... but good luck: in the USA, SUVs and trucks are two very hot market segments.

There are a lot of big pickups and SUVs on the road. There's a tiny percentage where the vehicle suits the use, but in the vast majority of cases, the vehicles are entirely a fashion with no real utility - or even negative utility. There is only a self-reinforcing utility of defending yourself from other tall and heavy vehicles. All this has been said many times before. When it comes to vehicles, people have no shame. What it tells us about the future of global warming seems very clear.

Trucks and SUVs are slowly cannibalizing sedan sales in the US. So not only do people like driving, the vehicles they tend to purchase are increasing in size.I think this statement is misleading. The market has filled with SUVs that are adapted from compact and midsize sedans (e.g. Toyota RAV4, Highlander). The giant SUV market still exists, but I don't believe it's growing anything like it was in the 1990s and early 2000s. I probably see forty Rav4's for every Ford E

The context is trucks and SUVs (which are technically trucks) are wildly popular in the US, but less so in some areas like on the West coast. This remains true in large cities, i.e. it's not just a rural thing.