Rise of ‘Carspreading’: UK car owners say supersized SUVs “not necessary in towns and cities”
February 11, 2025
Majority of UK passenger car owners think more SUVs “will make parking more difficult” and are “not necessary in towns and cities”
- Majority of UK passenger car owners think more SUVs “will make parking more difficult” and are “not necessary in towns and cities”
- SUV sales are at record levels in 2024 in UK – 62% of new car sales – while Paris cuts numbers using on street parking by two-thirds
- New coalition calls for higher sales taxes and parking charges for larger SUVs to tackle ‘carspreading’
- Clean Cities group asking for members of the public to share their worst examples of #carspreading on social media
Campaigners are warning about the new phenomenon of ‘carspreading’ with supersized SUVs crowding out space in towns and cities compared to the average sized car.
A YouGov survey commissioned by Clean Cities shows that four times as many UK car owners agree (71%) that more SUVs “will make parking more difficult” compared to those that disagree (15%).
A majority of UK car owners (59%) also agree that SUVs are not necessary in towns and cities, compared to just 20% that disagree. (1) This is despite research showing that three quarters of SUVs sold in the UK are registered to people living in towns and cities. (2)
Supersized SUVs more than 1.8m wide (larger than typical urban on-street parking spaces) are reducing the street space for other cars and making it more dangerous for cyclists and other road users. (3)
A list of some popular new models that are larger than the typical urban parking space is below. The Ford Ranger Raptor, Mercedes Benz GLE and BMW X5 / X6 are all more than 2m wide, while the Land Rover Defender 130, Audi Q8 and Kia EV9 are all wider than typical on-street parking spaces in towns and cities in the UK. (Table 1)
“Our cities face a double whammy of more cars and bigger cars. Carspreading doesn’t just affect parking, these supersized cars increase danger, congestion and pollution on our streets. City leaders must act now and stop carspreading before it’s too late. Even car owners want to see change.”
Oliver Lord, UK Head of Clean Cities
SUV sales hit record levels in 2024, taking up 62% of new car sales in the UK, up from 47% in 2020. A new analysis by T&E UK found that 1,145,456 SUVs were sold in 2024, out of a total of 1,835,349 cars. Worryingly, sales of larger models of SUVs have been increasing year on year. (4)
At the same time, SUVs are seen more as status symbols for the elite rather than being practical. Almost three times as many UK car owners (60%) agree that SUVs “are bought more as status symbols than for practical use” compared to those that disagree (21%). (5)
Clean Cities are one of the founder members of The SUV Alliance, a new campaign made up of a coalition of 14 environmental and transport groups. The Alliance has published a manifesto with a five point plan calling for (6):
- Changes to Vehicle Excise Duty to tax SUVs and the heaviest and most polluting vehicles more when they are sold
- Setting a maximum size for new car sales from 2030 so that carmakers cannot sell vehicles too big for parking spaces.
- Following the lead of Edinburgh City Council to introduce a tobacco-style ban on SUV advertising
- Mandate that carmakers must publish an “ecoscore” for all new electric vehicles
- Allowing local authorities to introduce higher parking charges on SUVs and other heavier, more polluting vehicles.
Data from Paris shows that action can have real impact. According to reports in Le Parisien, the tripling of the parking rate for “heavy” or SUV-type vehicles in Paris has already made it possible, according to the City, to reduce by two thirds the number of SUVs using surface parking. (7)
Clean Cities are asking for members of the public to share their worst examples of #carspreading that they have seen with photos on social media using the tag #carspreading and mentioning @cities_clean on X, @cleancitiescampaign on Instagram, or @cleancitiescampaign.org on BlueSky.
“Carspreading is a threat to our children’s health. If our streets are more dangerous to walk around then we’re just going to end up with more people driving. Carspreading creates a vicious cycle of feeling safer behind the wheel, which makes the air our children breathe even more toxic.”
Liz Godfrey, a parent who lives in Manchester
Research by the AA and Which found that 129 car models were too big to fit in parking spaces in the UK. However, the survey was done in 2018, and is likely to be far higher today. (8)
“I believe we will look back with disbelief at how we allowed larger and larger vehicles to take hold. SUVs require more land to park them on, more materials to produce them with, more road space to drive them along and more fuel to travel the equivalent distance by smaller vehicles. Even electric and hybrid SUVs will delay the transition to Net Zero as their larger batteries require more electricity.”
Jillian Anable, Professor of Transport & Energy at the University of Leeds
Table 1: Ten Examples of supersized SUVs too wide to park in UK
Car model | Width (m) | Parking bay overhang (cm) |
|---|---|---|
Ford Ranger Raptor | 2.03 | 23 |
Mercedes Benz GLE | 2.01 | 21 |
BMW X5 / X6 | 2.00 | 20 |
Land Rover Defender 110 / 130 | 1.99 | 19 |
Audi Q8 | 1.99 | 19 |
Kia EV9 | 1.98 | 18 |
Porsche Cayenne | 1.98 | 18 |
VW Touareg | 1.98 | 18 |
Maserati Levante | 1.98 | 18 |
Jeep Grand Cherokee | 1.97 | 17 |
Source: automobiledimension.com; Guidelines state that on-street parking bays should have a minimum width of 1.8m, which is the typical size in urban areas. Source: Understanding Car Park Markings
Notes to Editors:
- More info: alex@alexbigham.com; Alex Bigham
Interviews: Oliver Lord, Clean Cities oliver.lord@cleancitiescampaign.org
YouGov SUV Survey results
1. (22-23 January 2025, sample size 2,133 adults weighted of which 1,404 were passenger car owners)
Four times as many UK car owners agree (71%) that more SUVs “will make parking more difficult” compared to those that disagree (15%). See data tables: Media Copy Results for (SUVs) 2025_V1.xlsx – Google Sheets.
A majority of UK car owners (59%) agree that SUVs are not necessary in towns and cities, compared to just 20% that disagree. See data tables: Media Copy Results for (SUVs) 2025_V1.xlsx – Google Sheets (NB percentages from screenshot may change due to rounding).
This survey was collected on the YouGov Panels, where each member has accepted to participate in online interviews and has received an E-mail invitation with a link to the survey. The sample definition is created in order to provide a representative cross-section of the UK population, based on the target group and the purpose of the survey. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults aged 18+. Data was weighted according to the dimensions of gender, age and geography on the basis of an ideal weighting from Statistics UK, so that the results are representative of the population in relation to the aforementioned target group
2. Research shows that three quarters of all SUVs sold in the UK to private citizens in 2019-2020 were registered to urban addresses. Source: https://www.badverts.org/latest/mindgames-on-wheels-our-latest-report
3. There are no set regulations, however guidelines state that on-street parking bays should have a minimum width of 1.8m, which is the typical size in urban areas Source: Understanding Car Park Markings
4. Analysis of UK New car registrations Dataforce data by T&E, the parent organisation of Clean Cities. SUV sales take up 62% of new car sales in the UK, up from 47% in 2020. Sales of larger SUVs have increased by 69 per cent in the last five years
Sector | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total all car | 1,471,32 | 1,568,20 | 1,546,708
| 1,818,13 | 1,835,349 |
Total small SUV | 529,321 | 585,400 | 645,462 | 813,107 | 867,035 |
Total large SUV | 164,594 | 190,624 | 228,700 | 259,035 | 278,421 |
Total SUV | 693,915 | 776,024 | 874,162 | 1,072,142 | 1,145,456 |
% of cars sold in UK that are SUVs | 47.16% | 49.49% | 56.52% | 58.97% | 62.41% |
Source: Analysis of Dataforce data by T&E
5. Almost three times as many UK car owners (60%) agree that SUVs “are bought more as status symbols than for practical use” compared to those that disagree (21%). See Media Copy Results for (SUVs) 2025_V1.xlsx – Google Sheets (NB percentages from screenshot may change due to rounding)
6. SUV Alliance and SUV Alliance full manifesto. The SUV Alliance website and manifesto launched late January / early February 2025.
7. Le Parisien article – ‘Parking in Paris: three months after the price increase, “two-thirds fewer SUVs” parked in the streets’ https://www.leparisien.fr/paris-75/paris-trois-mois-apres-la-hausse-du-tarif-de-stationnement-deux-tiers-de-suv-en-moins-gares-dans-les-rues-01-02-2025-KPS2MGOEWRDZ3DYCFCHMA62B5M.php?xtor=AD-366
8. Car Size Data: UK parking space size – are our cars getting bigger? | The AA
Cars too big for UK parking spaces – the worst culprits revealed – Which? News
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