AUTONEWS

Europe at war with gigantic SUVs

With approximately 70% of Parisians in favor of penalizing the parking of larger vehicles, everything indicates that the referendum on February 4th will be a foregone conclusion. The objective of this “giving the inhabitants a say” in the French capital is to approve, or not, the increase in the hourly price of parking to €18 in the center and €12 in other areas, a substantial increase that aims to discourage the use of this type of parking. models, due to the greater space they occupy.

The Parisian intention to triple the price of parking follows similar measures already implemented in other cities, from the French Lyon to the German Tübingen, with the latter having increased the price of parking by 50% for king vehicles around a year and a half ago. size, all to compensate for the additional space they take up and the inconvenience they can cause to other vehicles and pedestrians. Support for this position comes from the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E), whose analysis of the automotive market in recent years determined that, on average, vehicles have been expanding by 1 cm every two years.

According to T&E, the average width of cars sold in 2018 in Europe was 1,778 meters, a figure that rose to 1,803 m in 2023. If this increase in width is impressive, then what can we say about the dimensions of the most respected top models in the world? market, such as the Mercedes S-Class saloons (1,921 m wide) and BMW 7 Series (1,950 m) or the GLS (2,030 m) and X7 (2,000 m) SUVs. Interestingly, instead of persecuting drivers of bulkier vehicles – it is debatable whether someone who paid between €100,000 and €200,000 for a top-of-the-range SUV will be sensitive to paying €18 to park, instead of just €6 –, perhaps it would more effective to act on the European regulations that define the width of vehicles permitted on public roads, which equate cars (as well as SUVs and pick-ups) with buses and trucks, allowing a maximum width of 2.55 meters, which explains the models with widened tracks and prominent fenders, with an extra inch on each side, that drive around.

Among the vehicles that have grown the most in width, T&E highlights the Land Rover Defender, which has expanded by 20.6 cm in the last six years, while SUVs from BMW and Mercedes have gained just 6 cm and Volvo's only 4.1 cm. If the width has increased, the weight has not been left behind, with the aforementioned saloons weighing an average of 2550 kg and the SUVs 2700 kg. And the greater the weight, the greater the risk to other vehicles and occupants in the event of an accident.

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