Europe | Charlemagne

A farewell to small cars, the industrial icons that put Europe on wheels

Why a continent with ever-smaller families is driving ever-bigger automobiles

Car driving off into the sunset
Image: Peter Schrank

Placing a Peugeot 208, Europe’s bestselling car last year, next to a Ford F-150, its American counterpart, is like comparing a Chihuahua to a Great Dane. Both have four wheels and typically serve the same purpose: to ferry a single driver from one place to another. Beyond that they have little in common. The F-150 weighs over two tonnes, twice as much as the lithe Peugeot. The driver in the American pickup truck sits a half-metre higher than the tarmac-scraping Frenchman in his family compact. Forget the flat bed attached to the back of the Ford—its interior alone feels roomier than the entire European car. A Parisian driver ever-confident of his parking skills might well attempt to squeeze his vehicle inside the cab of the American behemoth.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “A Farewell to Fiestas”

From the June 24th 2023 edition

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