this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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They are tricked into wanting big vehicles.
No one is tricking them, they want them. It is a self image thing, like the giant offroad trucks I see around me all the time with the winch and all the accessories that spend 99.9% of their time going shopping.
A self image that has been instilled through years and years of highly targeted, and highly researched ad campaigns.
People "want" these because they believe they need it, because the ads told them they need it. Then the other men who own those vehicles proceed to shit on the men with smaller trucks, and those insecure enough to bend over get the big truck as well.
I don't see this truck culture in Europe. I don't see people buying stupid vehicles to go offroading full of expensive gadgets and so on. While I'm sure it exists in small pockets it is by no means the level it's at here. (In Europe it's probably more for sports cars anywho)
Point being, no one wanted those SUVs until the car companies told them they want those SUVs.
No need for a trick. Bigger vehicles feel better to drive. And space isn't much of a concern in America.
I've heard this plenty of times, but are you using that field? Are you using that forest? This road that road? Are you using the parking lot in Seattle when you live in Georgia?
"We have the space for bigger vehicles" does not make sense when we have to drive farther and farther to reach things that are useful for us. (Also sprawling development destroys local ecosystems, and along with that, natural resources.)
While I would've agreed with you a few years ago, it's just not a realistic thought process when most people live their day-to-day lives in an area about the size of Luxembourg.
Big vehicles are a huge waste of valuable resources that could've been used on other things, such as infrastructure, public transport, smaller vehicles. Etc.
On a country perspective America is indeed big, but cities usually become denser as they grow, and in some decades will become a traffic nightmare just like old European cities are.
edit: not to focus about all the problems that bigger cars carry
"space isn't much of a concern in America" is one of the dumbest things I've heard in a while! What the fuck does that even mean? Like I get we have a large country but it isn't all roads and parking lots... yet