Cars also suffer massively from obesity

On average, we get fatter. Not only are we humans becoming more and more obese, our cars are also slowly getting bigger.

It is unclear whether one has anything to do with the other. However, according to The Guardian, European figures show that new models are having an increasingly difficult time in tight car parks.

Cars are getting wider

The research shows that the average SUV gets one centimeter wider every two years. The average width of a car has increased by 0.5 centimeters annually since 2001.

The average car is now 1.8 meters wide. That’s about as wide as a Ford Focus. The average car is therefore still quite controllable. But if the width continues to grow, many parking spaces will soon become too small.

The standard size for a parking space in Europe is 2.30 meters wide and 5 meters long. However, this does not mean that the average car now has half a meter of clearance around the car. The average width is measured without a mirror. The Ford Focus is almost 2 meters wide with mirrors.

This means that in an average car you have about 15 centimeters on both sides to get out. That’s pretty tight. And when you consider that many SUVs are even wider.

More and more SUVs

The “obesity” of the European vehicle fleet is partly due to the popularity of large SUVs. Previous figures showed that around half of new cars are SUVs.

At Autovisie we have also tested more and more SUVs in recent years. More and more sports car manufacturers are opting for this Sport Utility Vehicle come onto the market: for example Ferrari – although we can’t call it an SUV – and Lotus.

In the video below, Autovisie editor Dries van den Elzen takes you into the Eletre. A large, heavy car from the now Chinese Lotus.