Problem of expansion: Cars are now as fat as their passengers, but parking spaces remain one-size-fits-all

Compact cars now weigh 225kg more and a 6.4-inch longer wheelbase than in 1990.

By ET Bureau | Nov 30, 2020, 08.28 AM IST

Ballooning 55% in 50 years would be certain cause for concern, not the least because of tighter fits.

Cars do not suffer the same ill-effects of increasing mass as human beings do but manoeuvrability issues are comparable. More so as a recent survey in the UK has shown that while the dimensions of passenger vehicles have increased considerably since the 1970s, parking spaces have not.

With the Mini having grown the maximum (55%), popular marquees from the Fiat 500 to the VW Golf have also expanded between 47% and 28% during these decades. This means while being parked, cars face the same predicament as portly middle-aged humans trying to fit into the jeans they wore as teenagers: they can just about squeeze in but cannot do much else thereafter.

Another study a decade ago showed that, on average, even compact cars now weigh 225kg more and a 6.4-inch longer wheelbase than in 1990.

It was logical for vehicles to grow in consonance with the girth and wherewithal of their passengers in the late 20th century; but the current preoccupation with fitness and slimming down among humans has obviously not had a knock-on effect on their motorised steeds. It could be argued, of course, that had there not been restrictive parking spaces, passenger vehicles may well have swelled even further.

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