Trucks and SUVs

Have North American car owners lost their minds? In our modern age, we have continued to migrate to urban areas. Certainly, in Canada, we have seen the population shift from a predominantly rural to an almost entirely urban population. The same is happening in the US. Yet most car buyers are choosing pick-up trucks or SUV’s. These vehicles are made for the ruggedness of the farm or rural lifestyle. Not the smooth roads of quiet urban neighbourhoods. So why do so many people buy them? Why would Ford Motor Company announce that it was ending the production of cars and shifting entirely to trucks and SUVs?
 
So is an SUV a safer, more practical solution., is that why almost everyone has swung this way. Well no, an SUV is by definition, heavier has a higher centre of gravity, a higher roll centre, higher gas consumption and less efficiency in internal space than most cars. They are neither safer, more economical, nor more pleasant to drive than a conventional car. The traditional station wagon was a far more practical configuration than any of the SUVs on the road. But I don’t point the finger at the manufacturers. It is the car buying public that is at fault. The car companies build what people will buy. So why does the car buying public seem determined to buy less efficient, less safe and less pleasant products? Because they have lost their minds.