The car market has changed dramatically in the last decade, so much so that most new vehicles on sale today are not actually 'cars.' Buying a new one now usually means shopping for an SUV or a truck, which are a different category of vehicle.
Traditional cars, such as sedans, now only account for 19 percent of the overall new vehicle market, according to car-shopping site Edmunds. This is a record low - and a sharp drop from a decade ago when they made up 47 percent of the market.
SUVs, meanwhile, are now at a record high of 58 percent of new vehicles for sale, as Americans are increasingly opting for more space and more features.
"Americans love big SUVs, and those have long been the most profitable," Pat Ryan, CEO of the car-shopping app CoPilot, told Money.com.
When manufacturers struggled with supply-chain issues during the Covid-19 pandemic, they prioritized these moneymaking vehicles. That means there are now more than six dozen SUV models on the market, according to Kelley Blue Book.
The majority of American carmakers have 'virtually abandoned the sedan market,' CNN reported. The only so-called 'traditional' car still made by Ford is the Mustang. And after discontinuing the mid-size Malibu in November, Chevrolet no longer makes a new sedan.
"American drivers are now looking for more height, cargo space and legroom," Ryan told Money.com. "That is despite a new full-size SUV costing over $70,000 on average."
Ryan attributes much of the boom in popularity of SUVs to 'crossover' models, which are small SUVs built on a more compact structure. They have more space than a sedan but feel more like a car than a large SUV built on a truck frame.
"Cars have really been replaced by the crossover," he said. "That's really what's happened."
Cars have also fallen out of fashion as manufacturers used to produce passenger cars in part to reduce the average fuel economy of their fleets and satisfy government requirements. Now they do that with hybrids and electric vehicles instead.
Research suggests that Americans are even buying trucks larger than they need. For example, over 60 percent of people who own a Ford full-size F-150 pickup truck rarely or never use their trucks for towing. Only 28 percent frequently use them for hauling bulky or heavy items.
"Americans are bigger people: They like bigger homes and they like bigger cars. It is part of the psychology of our country," Ryan said.