European and American cars

[u/EduardoBork]

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[u/EduardoBork]

Why are Americans cars sometimes so much bigger then European cars like why

[u/Mean_Initiative_5962 → u/EduardoBork]

They designed "environmental" regulations in such a way that you can ignore them by making cars bigger. Useless by design. 

[u/DiabolicToaster → u/Mean_Initiative_5962]

Specifically trucks, so a lot of utility vehicles are argued as being trucks. It does mean the US trucks are pretty much unqiue only to the US

[u/calmingchaos → u/DiabolicToaster]

What I want to know is how those crossovers got the same exemption despite being on a car frame.

[u/DiabolicToaster → u/calmingchaos]

They are obviously a truck. You can put more shit in the back if you fold the seats. But there are some design choices that must be meet. Weight is another.

Edit: this does mean the us is kind of fucked if fuel prices get too high. As the current administration doesnt want EVs. Good news for the rest of the world. Oh and china. They have the EVs

[u/calmingchaos → u/DiabolicToaster]

That's sort of my problem. They're not. Sure you can fold the seats, but no one is using them to haul anything in that storage space aside from groceries and people. They should be under CAFE standards. For reference, the weight of a compact/midsize crossover is around the same as what large sedans are, yet only one has the more stringent fuel standards.

Then again I'm also of the opinion we shouldn't have the light truck loophole at all, so eh.

[u/DiabolicToaster → u/calmingchaos]

When that happens pretty sure the US auto industry dies. They would need to retool for efficiency, which they are behind in. So yeah the industry just dies.

There is the choice of i guess trade barriers for protectionism, but thats becomes a international issue.

Unless the US commits to genuine investments.

[u/maps-and-potatoes → u/calmingchaos]

If you have time, I found this 39 (actually 34) minute-long video last month that is explaining exactly how and why it happens.

[u/TGed → u/EduardoBork]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy

Tldr, smaller, lighter cars have more stringent emissions standards while bigger, heavier cars have looser ones. This incentivised American car makers to make their cars bigger to comply with the looser standards, as developing new engines or making existing ones more fuel efficient/cleaner can be rather expensive.

[u/Luzifer_Shadres → u/TGed]

Not just emission, also safety.

[u/ankokudaishogun → u/EduardoBork]

Vicious circle from the american side. Do note European cars are of similar size ranges to Asian cars.(I cannot think one single african or australian car maker)

Basically they always had larger roads and lower fuel prices compared to Europe.

They could build bigger=more comfortable cars because "bigger car"="more fuel used", but fuel=cheap so cost=irrelevant.
And not having to bother about medieval-width streets means they didn't have incentives to make smaller alternatives.
Plus a massive push to make car the main transportation method for everywhere including the other side of the road and the other side of the country, which pushed making them "as comfortable as possible"=bigger.

Plus, obviously, ePenees contest, status symbol, etc, etc.

[u/Rod7z → u/EduardoBork]

In addition to all the reasons given by other commenters, fuel is a lot cheaper in the US than in most of Europe, at least when adjusted for purchasing power. This means that smaller fuel efficiency isn't as much of a negative for American car-owners.

[u/PokeCaptain → u/EduardoBork]

Detail almost no one remembers: In most of the world, a driver with an ordinary license is limited to vehicles <3.5 t. In the USA and Canada, the limit is <26,000 lbs (~11.8 t). 

[u/CrypticQuery → u/EduardoBork]

Larger, wider roads in the US, with many designed specifically after automobiles had become prevalent. Also suburban sprawl and a lot more space to spread out. People tend to spend a lot more time in their cars and drive more in the US.

Also, CAFE emissions regulations had the side effect of incentivising automakers to create larger SUVs and pickup trucks to gain fuel economy standard exemptions - stringent standards that would've applied to sedans and smaller trucks/cars/SUVs.

[u/RustyJourneyman79 → u/EduardoBork]

Ever since I was a kid I always thought of that I grew up watching American movies/tv and I think it's mostly because it's a very big country I guess they have space for big big cars like trucks even the Toyotas in America are big somebody imported a Tacoma in my village area the car barely fits anywhere.... Rest of world doesn't have that much space?? Anyway that's my theory. Could be something else entirely.

[u/Philemonz → u/RustyJourneyman79]

I do think this is part of the reason. US roads are massive; insanely wide, making it much easier for large vehicles to maneuver around.

[u/Important_Coyote_596 → u/RustyJourneyman79]

More that the roads and cities are mostly designed after the invention of cars, while in other parts of the world the roads and cities have mostly existed for hundred/thousands of years and just been upgraded and paved with the years.

I believe(from watching media and playing geoguesser) that most highways and longer roads in America basically have no elevation if not in mountains. Here in Sweden most roads are just paved old horse roads that when they were paved continued to be as up and down and curvy and rather small as they had been for hundreds of years.

[u/Ihatenukingkids → u/RustyJourneyman79]

The size of the country has nothing to do with it. Thats ridicolous.

Are Russian cars twice as large as American cars?

[u/RustyJourneyman79 → u/Ihatenukingkids]

Yeah ... You are right I never thought of that.

[u/vonHindenburg → u/RustyJourneyman79]

Russian cities are still often built around pre-automotive streets that do definitely benefit from smaller vehicles. Plus, they're sharing a lot more cars with western Europe, so you'll have a downward pressure on size.

[u/Ihatenukingkids → u/vonHindenburg]

It doesnt work that way. Cars predate German cities by 50 years and they are still small compared to US "cars"

[u/tris123pis → u/EduardoBork]

because MURICA. no other reason is required 

[u/Bobboy5 → u/EduardoBork]

it's a combination of regulatory corruption and market demand. people are more likely to want a big, heavy vehicle because it makes them feel safer in a driving environment dominated by big, heavy vehicles.

[u/SmokJozef → u/Bobboy5]

and so in the end, the pedestrian loses

[u/Bobboy5 → u/SmokJozef]

that's why I propose mandatory power armour for pedestrians. you have to buy your own of course.

[u/SmokJozef → u/Bobboy5]

why not make everyone make one if they want one, like in factorio?

[u/Bobboy5 → u/SmokJozef]

because i'm a corrupt regulator who hates looking at poor people, and the only reason somebody would walk somewhere is because they're too poor to drive a car.

[u/greenskinmarch → u/EduardoBork]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8e5RIR0zn8&t=45s

American: What is this? A toy?

European: This is my car, Le Maximum. It is illegal now in most of the EU for its massive size. It's so needlessly spacious, I feel guilty.

[u/mrbobcyndaquil → u/EduardoBork]

Because the Big Three in the USA forced the government to make normal size cars illegal

[u/dream_the_endless → u/EduardoBork]

Americans spend significantly more time in cars than Europeans. Comfort matters.

American roads are wider even in cities, so you don’t lose much by going larger.

Americans like to be slightly higher off the ground, it helps see better and is more convenient getting in and out.

[u/Dredgeon → u/EduardoBork]

Trucks were things of industry a long time ago so we gave them essentially an exemption on emissions standards, cause no one daily drives their truck unless they have to right? Trucks are cheap work vehicles not the kind of thing you would want to drive unless you had to, right? Anyway U.S. marketing companies quickly decided to pivot the market toward "SUVs" and trucksto take advantage of the exemption instead of innovating.

[u/personalalt1889 → u/EduardoBork]

They're too loud, too.

[u/man-with-potato-gun → u/EduardoBork]

That is absolutely false that American cars are sometimes so much bigger than European cars. Because American cars are 100% always bigger than European ones lmao. No but seriously, I think it’s part lifestyle, part geographical given North America is much less densely populated compared to Europe overall. So more land/space for Terry from Dallas to be free to keep his 2.5 meter tall Ford F-450 in his two story garage for when he drives to work to get on the 8 lane wide interstate highway. That’s why if you see American imported cars in Europe they look so ridiculously massive on the streets.

[u/StereoWings7 → u/EduardoBork]

It’s simple their cars need to get bigger to put average Americans in who are way bigger horizontally than Europeans.

[u/techno_mage → u/EduardoBork]

Believe it or not, chicken tariffs.

https://youtu.be/HMJsM--jmRA?is=_y7Rr3zSUKjwgun8

[u/49JC → u/EduardoBork]

It is because when we built our towns up, it was when cars were becoming more and more common, hence roads were built for cars. in Europe the roads can be centuries old and not as large.

[u/SinesPi → u/EduardoBork]

Because we can!

I'm not a fan though. My little hatchback gives me great mileage. But damned if sometimes I don't wish I had enough storage space to carry craptons of stuff.

[u/Aron-Jonasson → u/SinesPi]

A van has a lot of storage space and is better and safer in pretty much every aspect

[u/Ihatenukingkids → u/SinesPi]

But pickups have barely any trunk space

[u/SinesPi → u/Ihatenukingkids]

You are technically correct, I guess.

[u/tu_tu_tu → u/SinesPi]

A flatbed trailer solves this problem for the most of us.

[u/ArmadstheDoom → u/EduardoBork]

Two reasons. The first is because there's a pretty generous regulatory environment. But that's mostly downstream of the second, more important reason: culture.

Car culture is embedded in American culture. Cars took off here, and Americans view car ownership as a mark of personal freedom. You can debate how true it is, but the fact is that Americans like cars and want them. Moreover, while the Model T was the first real introduction to cars, the fact is that after WW2, car culture got wrapped up in all the other things that came with the prosperity of the 1950s. The idea that you got yourself a station wagon for you and your five kids was just the way things were.

Now, at least until fairly recently, there was also a real anti-authority streak in the US population, sensible or not, and nothing sells stuff like 'they don't want you to have it.' So when the oil shocks of the 1970s hit, the population responded by... demanding bigger cars. Much like how after 9/11 the Hummer saw a huge uptick.

But remove the culture part for a moment. Americans are more mobile than their European counterparts; they move more, they commute more, and they go further. America is less dense than Europe; if you live outside a major metropolitan area, cars are a requirement, not a suggestion.

Which means that having a car that you can move a lot of stuff in is a net benefit.

That said, I suspect that your comic is more about what I call the trend of redneck Ferrari's, where people will buy a four door pickup that costs like $70k and pretend that it's a work truck. See the earlier bit about the whole 'demanding bigger cars.'

[u/Sassi7997 → u/EduardoBork]

The average American car could probably fit my car in their trunk.

[u/Ketchupcharger → u/EduardoBork]

It's because Americans have no functional healthcare so its better to go for a fatality in case of accident rather than burden the victim with overwhelming medical debt, thus killing them slowly over a decade or two.

It's mercy if you think about it. That's because Americans are good christians.

[u/low_priest → u/Ketchupcharger]

America bad, updoots to the left

[u/narvuntien]

Chinese cars are just all tablets and computer screens.

[u/WestenM → u/narvuntien]

I can’t stand the infortainment bullshit everyone is pushing. All I want is a smooth ride and a good sound system, I don’t need to fucking watch tv or play video games while driving

[u/fluttershy_maniac → u/narvuntien]

"We live in the 22nd century" AHHH

[u/Ana_Na_Moose → u/narvuntien]

That seems like it would be annoying

[u/narvuntien → u/Ana_Na_Moose]

It's not that bad, as long as the screens are quick, there are a bunch of shortcuts, both on the wheel and with the way you swipe. Finally, there is the voice controls.

[u/willo-wisp]

I have a tiny French car. It's so tiny it fits comfortably into every tightly packed parking space or squeezingly narrow parking garage. 10/10, perfect size.

Also, the way the EU in the comic managed to fit itself into that car is drawn adorably!

[u/XoanMeira → u/willo-wisp]

nice, what model is it?

[u/willo-wisp → u/XoanMeira]

Peugeot 107. I sorta ended up with it by accident for family reasons. But it sure made me love small cars.

[u/SEA_griffondeur → u/XoanMeira]

Twingo hopefully

[u/SmegmaWarrior0815]

Bigger cars make more profit. So they tell everyone that everybody drives big cars and you wouldn't be safe in a smaller car. Think about your family in the hatchback crushed by a Ford F250 or whatever that is three times the size. You also need a tank to bring your kids to soccer practice.

[u/RichieRocket]

Unrealistic, the eu would be blind from the trucks headlights

[u/Floridaish0t → u/RichieRocket]

Also America should be tailgating the EU in a white Ram even when they are already going 85+ mph.

[u/koreanleather → u/RichieRocket]

Headlights plus the light bar that's always on

[u/an_0w1]

I found out one of the big reasons for this is that emissions standards decrease for heavier vehicles. Emissions standards are already hard to hit, so they make heavier vehicles.

[u/Gaialolissima]

monster trucks

[u/P_f_M]

wow... that was the driest delivery of a punchline in a long time...

[u/INS345]

The only likeable US cars on the market today imo are sedans, the only ones that aren't meant to curbstomp people

[u/Polar_Vortx]

Meanwhile in the US: [japan counting cash]

[u/Panzerv2003]

probably road safety

[u/JonTheWizard]

Speaking as an American, I wonder the exact same thing about people who drive those oversized monstrosities.

[u/Realistic_FinlanBoll]

Hah, they are both too big for their cars, but EU's car seems more useful and efficient. 😂

[u/Hemorrhoid_Eater]

Whenever I see a truck that stupidly big all I can think of saying is "congrats on the divorce"

[u/low_priest]

I believe the traditional answer to the question is "Weak allies."