>>22893017 (OP)Safety, Environment etc. Same reason cars keep getting bigger and bigger. Bigger cars = more crumple zones, better safety test performance etc.
>>22893061Nah SUVs are mostly a western woman thing. It's the same "I need a big X to protect my kids" meme that they also apply to dogs etc. The SUVification of regular cars is due to safety tests being biased in favor of bigger cars. If you crash then the bigger your car the most safe you are and the less safe the other guy is. Safety tests don't care about the other guy though, so you get a prisoners' dilemma. Two small cars crashing might be safer than two massive trucks crashing, but if a massive truck hits a small car then you want to be the guy in the truck, so everything becomes truckified, SUVified etc and potentially more dangerous overall.
>>22893063These aren't mutually exclusive. Complying with regulations and industry standards is necessary for profit. Cost-cutting can't be the reason because older cars were far cheaper to produce and would be even cheaper still with modern production techniques. The catalytic converter alone in a modern car costs more than the entire car would've cost in the 1970s.