America’s Car Culture and Geographic Factors:
America is undoubtedly a nation of cars. There are 908 motor vehicles per 1,000 people in this country, and it is only beaten out by a half dozen micronations like Andorra, San Marino, and Gibraltar for the most cars per capita in the world. With 92 percent of American households owning a vehicle, the average American drove over 13,000 miles in 2022. So, why is America obsessed with cars (Rogers, 2023)?
The simple answer is that the United States is big, and it is rural. Today, 1 in 5 Americans lives in ‘rural’ America, but 100 years ago it was 1 in 2. A personal vehicle to travel made much more sense than any public transportation system. It was part of American culture to own your own transportation option, whether it be horse or car (Rogers, 2023).
Comparisons to Europe and Public Transportation:
People often point to countries with robust public transportation like Germany and the Netherlands and complain that the U.S. isn’t like that, but European countries are also fundamentally different. Germany has a population density of 600 people per square mile, more than 6 times that of the U.S (Rogers, 2023).
The Paradox of America’s Car Obsession and Deteriorating Infrastructure:
America is a nation of ever larger cars and trucks. Trucks and SUVs made up a combined 61 percent of the market for new cars in 2021. Personal vehicle transportation is seemingly a permanent fixture in America, yet our roads are in poor shape. Deteriorating road infrastructure is adding to the vehicle repair and operating costs of motorists to the tune of $130 billion in 2021. It’s astounding that despite our obsession with cars, we can’t be bothered to maintain the roads that Americans rely upon. It will be interesting to see if electric cars, high-speed rail, and other transportation proposals will have an effect on the car culture of America over time and how public policy evolves to facilitate or impact those options (Rogers, 2023).
Analysis
Since I’m working with a very well-established car brand, Honda, for this project, the topic of American car culture interested me a lot, and I would love to learn more about it. This article provides me with a comprehensive description from different aspects and perspectives on why and how the US car culture was developed. One striking fact I learned from this reading is that 61% of the new car sales in 2021 were pickup trucks or SUVs. This stat indicates that larger vehicles are in very high demand in the US and are a popular choice for Americans. In my research, I would like to dive deeper into why Americans love larger vehicles more and their reasons behind it.
References
Rogers, O. (2024, April 12). The unique U.S. car culture. Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure. https://www.aii.org/the-unique-u-s-car-culture/
Irwin, A. (2024). 2024 Honda Ridgeline Review, pricing, and Specs. car and driver. https://www.caranddriver.com/honda/ridgeline
