Unless I'm mistaken, a big reason we don't have smaller cars in the US (other than consumer demand) is related to safety regulations rather than fuel economy la

Unless I'm mistaken, a big reason we don't have smaller cars in the US (other than consumer demand) is related to safety regulations rather than fuel economy laws. It's a combination of everything. Trucks keep getting bigger because it's how they game the fuel efficiency requirements. Small cars get bigger because of safety standards. Consumers in the US don't really want small cars, partly because we've gotten bigger a partly because it's terrifying to be on the road with the aforementioned trucks. Similarly, cars seem really boring these days because most people want something big enough (i.e. CUV like the RAV4), and because safety standards for things like pedestrian impact have constrained the designers. So, we end up with a bunch of CUVs that I can't tell apart.