The number of passenger cars registered is at the lowest point since the early 1970s

There are around 100 million passenger cars in the US at the time of writing.

Actually, just a hair under 100 million.

This is because, as it turns out, motorists in the US aren’t buying cars anymore.

And it’s probably exactly for the reason you suspect.

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According to S&P Global Mobility, a market trend researcher, the number of passenger cars on the road in the US has fallen below 100 million for the first time since the 1970s.

And that number is still going down.

Between 2020 and 2023, for example, over 27 million cars were sent to the crusher, while new car registrations topped out at just 13 million.

Why? The answer consists of three words: SUVs and trucks.

People aren’t buying passenger cars because they’re buying SUVs and trucks instead.

This is becoming a bit of a catch-22 situation.

As in, people aren’t buying cars because automakers are mostly focusing on SUVs… because people aren’t buying cars…

And it goes on.

The best-selling vehicle in North America last year was an SUV, the Toyota RAV4.

The second best-seller was the Ford F-150, which is a truck.

In fact, you have to go all the way down to number six to find the first sedan, the Toyota Camry.

And then we have vehicles that used to be sedans but are now SUVs.

For example, Ford decided to use the Mustang nameplate for an SUV, the Mach-E, which is actually outselling the ‘normal’ Mustang.

And the list of nameplates that used to be cars that are now SUVs is long, and it includes – among others – the Mitsubishi Eclipse and the Ford Puma.

After all, people want what they want.

And, at least for now, people clearly want SUVs and trucks.