Major European cities, including London, face the prospect of losing up to one in seven on-street parking spaces if the current trend of increasing car sizes persists, new analysis reveals.
The warning comes from the think tank Transport & Environment (T&E), whose study also highlights a potential rise in road fatalities linked to the growing popularity of larger vehicles, such as SUVs – a phenomenon critics have dubbed ‘carspreading’.
T&E asserted that urban thoroughfares are becoming overwhelmed by ‘oversized’ cars that cities ‘simply weren’t designed for’.
The research detailed that since the turn of the millennium, the average length of new cars has expanded by 1.2cm annually, with overall height, bonnet height, and width each growing by approximately 0.5cm per year.
If this trend continues, on-street parking capacity in cities will be cut by between 8.5% and 14% by 2040, according to the analysis.
This means London could lose about 100,000 parking spaces, the study warned.
T&E also stated that the rise of larger SUVs could lead to about 400 additional road deaths annually by 2040 across the UK and European Union, compared with a scenario in which car sizes steadily returned to 2015 levels.
The think tank claimed that car makers have “shifted away from smaller models” despite “shrinking family sizes and falling car occupancy”.
Anna Krajinska, T&E UK director, said: “Car manufacturers have spent decades pushing large expensive cars at the expense of smaller models.
“After 25 years of relentless growth, our streets are dominated by oversized SUVs that cities simply weren’t designed for.
“The result is a lose-lose: councils are forced to reshape streets around larger vehicles, sacrificing parking capacity, public space and safety in the process.
“This is a market failure. Without clear standards to limit car size and encourage right-sizing, carspreading will continue unchecked, and cities will keep paying the price.”