Pickup trucks are the most popular vehicles in the United States, followed shortly after by SUVs. They seem to get bigger every year. In many cases they now exceed the length of the American M4 Sherman tank from World War II, which was the weapon of the Allied forces. US auto giants GM, Ford and Chrysler helped produce 50,000 of these steel-tracked vehicles before returning to civilian vehicles for the US and European markets.
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But since then, the cars have continued to grow in size. Even to the extent that a car like the 20-foot-long Ford F150 pickup – the most popular car in the US with 787,422 units sold – according to the British newspaper Daily Mail now longer than a World War II Sherman tank. In most cases, America’s most popular pickups and SUVs are longer than the tanks, but they are often lower and narrower. The weights are also quite different: where a modern Ford F150 weighs about 2,500 kilos, a Sherman tank with its cannon and heavy armor sometimes touched 42,000 kilos.
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Ever-expanding SUVs and pickups sell significantly better than sedans in the US. It is not surprising that the number of fatal accidents involving SUVs there has also increased sharply in recent years. In Europe too, there is growing opposition to these SUVs that are too large and polluting in the eyes of many people. Pick-up trucks also have a notorious reputation in our country. Experts denounce their killing power and their dramatic impact in collisions. At the beginning of 2020, approximately 31,000 pick-ups were driving around on the Flemish roads.
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