The cars sold today are significantly wider than just a few years ago, and many of them are too large for regular parking spaces.
An average car grows an average of one centimeter in width every two years. This is shown by a survey carried out by the organization Transport & Environment and which is based on the 100 best-selling cars in Europe in 2018 and 2023.
The figures also show that more than half of all new car models are now too wide for many parking spaces.
The average width of new cars has increased to 180.3 centimeters in the first half of 2023. Five years earlier, in 2018, the average width was 177.8 centimeters, and figures from the organization ICCT show a similar trend throughout the 2000s.
In addition to larger cars becoming heavier and thirstier, there is a risk of congestion in both parking lots and streets, especially for unprotected road users such as cyclists, when cars grow in width.
An example highlighted is the Volvo EX90, which is 4.1 centimeters wider than its predecessor, the XC90.
– Cars have been getting wider for several decades and that trend will continue until we set a tougher limit. Currently, the law allows new cars to be as wide as trucks. The result has been large SUVs and American pickups that park on sidewalks and endanger pedestrians, cyclists and everyone else on the road, says James Nix at T&E.
