By ROB HULL
Britons are increasingly being pushed into larger vehicles as they now dominate manufacturer showrooms, making up more than half of all car options on sale.
There are 193 different SUV and 'crossover' (conventional hatchbacks with increased ride height) variations across the 35 most popular brands sold in the UK in 2025.
This is an uplift of 543 per cent compared to 2000 when just 35 SUV variants were available, a comprehensive review of the new car market has revealed.
Online marketplace CarGurus also found that every mainstream maker now offers at least one SUV in their vehicle line-ups, with most (three in five) having at least five different jacked-up options. In 2000, less than half of manufacturers sold a single SUV.
The three most in-demand premium German marques - Audi, BMW and Mercedes - now have 46 SUV options to pick from, as they offer far more SUV options than rival manufacturers.
This SUV saturation of the market is likely to anger eco and safety campaigners who in recent months have raised major concerns about them being more polluting, overcrowding streets, being too large for parking spaces, creating potholes and increasing risk to pedestrians, cyclists and particularly children.
However, the transition to electric cars is partly responsible for the growth in EV options as makers find themselves embroiled in a 'range race' to produce models that can be driven furthest between charges.
SUV overload: Half of new cars in showrooms are jacked-up motors as drivers are being pushed into bigger vehicles - but campaigners want fewer SUVs on our roads
Data shows the number of SUV options being added to the market has continued to accelerate over the last 12 months.
Between 2024 and 2025, SUV availability grew 18 per cent.
Having analysed the 35 auto makers with the highest volume of UK sales, the study found 52 per cent of model variants sold are SUV or crossover cars.
And a third of all SUV models are powered by batteries and e-motors. Of the 193 different SUVs you can buy in the UK today, 64 are EVs.
This is because their wider and longer chassis allows more space to fit larger battery packs, which in turn provide longer ranges between charges.
And the wave of emerging brands from China is also playing a part in the SUV takeover - relative newcomers including BYD, GWM, Omoda, Jaecoo, and Leapmotor all included at least one in their launch line-up.
Audi has the most SUV and crossover options in its current line-up. There are 18 variants in total in its showrooms today, including the new Q6 e-tron EV (pictured)
BMW isn't short of SUV options either. The German marque has 15 different models in its line-up, including the electric iX (pictured)
Of the 193 different SUVs you can buy in the UK today, 64 are EVs, including the Mercedes EQE SUV. Mercedes currently has a choice of 13 different SUV and crossover models in its range
This expansion in SUV choice is being reflected in sales data as motorists are given fewer alternative options.
Last year, 'multi-purpose vehicles' - including SUVs and crossovers - for the first time on record became the most popular new model type, official records show.
These overtook superminis to take the crown as the most-bought vehicle segment - a reign that looks set to continue well into the future as the concentration of SUVs gets stronger.
Society of Motor Manufacturer and Trader (SMMT) figures also show eight in 10 of the most-bought models in 2024 were SUV-type machines.
Only the Vauxhall Corsa and Volkswagen Golf hatchbacks bucked the trend as once-popular traditional body styles saw a sharp decline.
Coincidentally, SUV dominance has sparked a dramatic decline in other once-popular body styles.
The number of new MPVs has fallen most - by 70 per cent in the last decade - while conventional hatchback options have decline by 46 per cent since 2015, shrinking from 100 variations to just 54 today.
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Chris Knapman, CarGurus editorial director, said: 'Features like the high driving position, flexible interior space, big boot, and potential off-road capability make SUVs an appealing body style to consumers, so it's no surprise that manufacturers have been racing to meet this demand with an increasingly varied supply of new models.
'This increase in appetite for SUVs has meant there's been less demand for other types of cars, with the choice of MPVs in particular having dwindled on the new car market.
'Buyers after one of these less in-demand body styles would do well to look to the used market instead, where there are still plenty of models - SUVs and otherwise - to suit all price points and needs.'
Campaigners want fewer SUVs on our roads for a variety of reasons. We outline the major gripes with these jacked-up cars
SUVs are controversial. Mike Hawes, the SMMT's chief executive, says there are more on sale today because manufacturers have been 'responding to consumer demand' for motors with increased 'practicality, comfort and a good view of the road'.
However, campaigners have been advocating for their demise for a variety of concerns.
A report by the International Energy Agency last year claimed large, heavy passenger vehicles were responsible for 'over 20 per cent of the growth in global energy-related CO2 emissions' in 2023.
'If SUVs were a country, they would be the world's fifth largest emitter of CO2,' it stated.
'[They] weigh 200-300kg more than an average medium-sized car, and typically take up nearly 0.3 m2 more space – emitting roughly 20 per cent more carbon dioxide.
'The trend towards heavier and less fuel-efficient cars increases energy demand, including oil and electricity use, as well as demand for basic metals and critical minerals needed for battery production.
'Over the course of 2022 and 2023, global oil consumption directly related to SUVs rose by a total of over 600,000 barrels per day, accounting for more than a quarter of the overall annual growth in oil demand,' it said.
A report by the International Energy Agency last year calculated that if SUVs were a country, they would be the world's fifth largest emitter of carbon dioxide behind China, USA, India and Russia
As well as lambasting examples with combustion engines, which are heavier and more polluting, Greenpeace argue EV variants consume significant resources in relation to their size.
Because they command larger batteries packs, this further increases the demand for critical minerals, putting even more pressure on the planet.
Other green transport groups, namely Transport & Environment, has criticised mega SUVs like Range Rovers being oversized that they're now too big for city streets and kerbside parking spaces, and are 'forcing cyclists off the road'.
Councils and car park operators have responded to their increasing dimensions too, adding size restrictions for vehicles using their locations, with some banned from using some local car parks.
In Paris, the mayor has trebled parking charges for SUVs in an effort to force them out of the French capital.
SUVs might be popular but local authorities across the UK are considering implementing additional parking charges and bans on models deemed too large for bays and too polluting for urban areas...
Parisians voted last year to muscle SUVs off the French capital's streets by making them three times more expensive to park, and called on London to follow suit
Wide load: Transport & Environment says the wider cars are not only unable to park in on-street bays, they are leaving less room for other road users
Their bulkier weight is also being linked to the rise in potholes across the country, with think tank Clean Cities claiming that a two-ton off-road vehicle cause 16 times more road damage than a one-ton hatchback.
Greenpeace UK's senior transport campaigner, told This is Money: 'SUVs create bigger potholes and bigger safety risks, given they take up more room on the road.'
Most recently, a university study suggested they are far more deadly than traditional body styles.
Analysis by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Imperial College London published last month said that the likelihood of death is 44 per cent higher if vulnerable road users are hit by 4X4-style vehicles over standard cars.
And this figure rises to 82 per cent for children, the report warned.
Researchers gathered data from more than 680,000 road collisions over the past 35 years - a period of time that coincides with the dramatic increase in popularity of SUV-type vehicles.