No end to vehicle weight gain in sight

Despite rising fuel prices, more congestion in major cities and tighter shopping center car parks, there seems to be no end in demand for bigger and more powerful models. Over the years, each model generation for many popular cars has on average grown over its predecessor to the point where some models need to be categorized into different vehicle segments.

Take the Honda Accord and Civic models for instance. The current ’07 Civic has nearly the same legroom as a 1990 Accord, reports USA Today, and there’s only about 100 pounds in weight difference between them. This has forced designers to increase the size of the new 2008 Accord so that the two cars wouldn’t compete in the same class.

According to Edmunds, the average SUV has grown 10in in length and gained 474 pounds over the past ten years, while cars are up on average 2in and 374 pounds. The problem isn’t isolated to family cars and SUVs either.

Even small sports cars like the Audi TT and the Mini have increased their girth for the second generation models, the latter will even be spawning a stretched variant as well in coming months.

The problem is that customers are demanding larger vehicles and the belief that bigger is better is still common.