Australia wants to add almost eight inches to the length of the national parking spot. The New York Times reports that Standards Australia, a non-governmental group that creates measurement and building code standards, is pushing for more parking spaces because there are more long cars in Australia. So, is America to blame? A lot of Australian news outlets quickly said that the sudden rise in parking spots was because more American pickup trucks were being sold in Australia. In a recent Facebook video, The Project said, “After making us do Halloween, they made us listen to Kid Rock.” “Now the Americans are coming for our roads, hogging them with their loud, rude, outdated trucks.” In fact, more American cars are being bought in Australia than ever before. Car Expert says that in the first half of 2023, 3,697 people in Australia purchased a Ram 1500 truck. The Chevy Silverado and its HD version were found in 1,568 homes in Australia. Considering that these are all high sales numbers for American pickups, there is some truth to the earlier claims that American-made trucks are making vehicles longer overall. However, there is some validity to what you are saying. The Ram 1500, which is Australia’s best-selling full-sized American pickup, didn’t even make it into the top ten in truck sales for the first half of 2023. Compact trucks like the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux are still very popular in Australia. Between January and June, 23,620 Rangers and 21,808 Hiluxes were sold. In this way, American trucks have only slightly added to the general trend of longer vehicles. Also, vehicle lengths in Australia have grown a lot since the review of parking space rules in 2004. At 186 inches long, the 2004 Toyota Hilux is still one of Australia’s most popular cars. The 2023 Toyota Hilux is 207 inches long. People want bigger cars more than ever before, and cars are getting bigger. “The last time we looked at the norm was in 2004 when 13% of our country’s cars were SUVs. Now, that number is around 40%.” We need to think about our parking lots as much as our cars, says Adam Stingemore, General Manager of Engagement and Communications at Standards Australia. This is a problem for more than just Australians and Americans. Larger cars are becoming more popular around the world, even though most SUVs are bought in the United States. It might be funny to blame Australia for the rise in car size, even though the facts don’t support it, since no one in Australia drives huge trucks like Americans do. All cars are getting bigger, so parking spots need to be made bigger to fit them.
